Caged Bird
by JheneMaiko
Summary: Taiga was one of the few teenagers that was taken in by Orochimaru, she wanted to use him to grow stronger so that she could exact vengeance. During her years under his tutelage, she had built bonds with Sasuke, Karin, and Suigetsu. Though bonds have taken a sudden shift when she meets Naruto Uzumaki. Naruto x OC/R&R!
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Masashi Kishimoto does!

* * *

_When I look back…_

_I sometimes wonder if I could've saved him._

_If I had tried, and had I noticed all the signs that pointed to the path that he was willing and led to take... I wonder if I could've stopped him._

_That's just hopeful thinking, right? Can you truly stop someone from walking a path that was set for them? I don't really know if he was just born to walk this path in life or maybe, at the end of it all, it was just his destiny. Destiny can be reshaped, can't it? After all, your fate lies in your own hands. Your future forever changes depending on the decisions you make. And these decisions, these decisions seemed so reckless, and yet I understood._

_I empathized._

_But could I have stopped him? Could I had stop that overwhelming cloud of darkness from engulfing him? For the most part, I think not. I think you can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved. As harsh as it sounds, I think those kind of people have to save themselves. But as their friend, as someone who cares for them, you want to try and cling onto a hope that you can help them._

_I wanted to be the hand that reached in the darkness; a hand that he could hold and he could use to pull himself up from drowning into the evil that he was becoming. But that wasn't something I was fated to do. No matter how much I cared for him, and how I seen him as such as close friend friend, I don't think I was ever meant to save him._

_Maybe I was never meant to even meet him in the first place._

_After all, the same hand that was desperately trying to save him had saved me too._

_I was too busy worried about the darkness that surrounded someone else that I did not see my own. I was drowning, subconsciously, and I was trying to break the surface of blackness that was trying to drag me down. I wasn't worried about me. And then that hand, it was like a beacon of light and it had purified all the darkness that surrounded me._

_I don't know if my eyes were closed or I was just too blind to see how far I was being dragged down, but he saved me._

**o**O**o**

Amidst the training ground stood a young kunoichi, her eyes had been staring at the sword in her hand with much musing. She stood at 5'0, her hair a light and wheat-colored blonde that ended at her mid-upper thighs. Two ponytails at the sides of her head that resembled cat ears. Her skin was an olive tone color, her eyes a deep shade of magenta.

Her attire consisted of a scarlet bodysuit with long sleeves and was protected by partial armor on her arms and hips that were black with tinges of red at the tips of the armor. Around her right thigh was a simple red ribbon, which held sentimental value to her.

On her feet, she wore red socks that matched the bodysuit and armor that covered most of her calves. Her feet were adorned simple shinobi-standard sandals, except for hers were the kunoichi addition with the small heel.

Her body had not moved from place, still standing in the middle of the forest of Kusagakure. Her eyes never left the sword until her name was called, "Taiga."

"Hm?" Slowly, she had looked over her shoulder. Her eyes observing the boy who had called her name.

The boy who called her name was Sasuke Uchiha. He was fair-skinned with onyx eyes and black hair that was chin-length. The back of his hair was spiky in an unusual hairstyle. He had bangs that hung on both sides of his face, framing his cheeks.

His sword, Kusanagi, was at his hip and his hand over the handle. "Fight me."

Every time he wanted to strengthen his Kenjutsu, he always looked for her. Being from Kumogakure had made her strong in it, but that didn't mean she wanted him to test out his skills on her every time. "Didn't we just battle a day ago?" She sighed, rubbing her shoulder. "Don't you get tired?"

"Who grows tired from getting stronger?" He queried, "I'll never be tired."

His words made her even more exhausted, but she decided to indulge him. "And what do I get out of it? I already mastered my sword-styles."

"Why do you have to get something out of it?" A pout slowly formed on her face, "Just fight me or I'll attack without warning."

"Was that supposed to scare me?" Taiga had asked, truly curious of his answer.

The right corner of his lip had rose in a smirk, "If you don't fear me by now then I'm not strong enough."

"I guess so..." Her ears had picked up on the sound of his sword slightly raised out of its sheath. Her hand had went onto the handle of her sword and she had quickly turned around. "How about if I win, you buy me dumplings."

He had scoffed at her proposal, "Everything we do always comes back to food, doesn't it?"

With a grin, she had placed her arms behind her head. "We get a shitty meal here every day. How am I supposed to survive on just rice? Hell, the least they can do is throw a rice ball or two but we don't even get that. Just a plain bowl of boring white rice."

"It has made you stronger, hasn't it?" Sasuke had closed his eyes briefly, which alerted her that he was starting to get annoyed with the conversation of food. "You eat senselessly."

"Only a woman should worry about her own weight." Taiga's arms were folded under her bust, a smirk forming as she could see the slight twitch of his right eyebrow. "Besides, you can say that while you're sporting all those abs over there." She had pointed at his abdomen, his eyes opening but not paying heed to what she was pointing to.

He had shaken his head to move the fringes from his face from the sudden wind, "I didn't know you were interested in looking at my body."

Her face had flushed a shade of red, her hands rose in defense as she had shaken her head furiously. "How can I not see when you have your shirt wide open?!"

"I'm not going to ask again." His arm had rested on the hilt of his sword. "Fight me."

They both had stood at a comfortable distance, both of them eyeing each other to see what the other was prepared to do. Taiga had mastered two sword-styles, Tennen Rishin-ryū and Iaidō, while Sasuke had developed his own sword-style by using a mixture of different kenjutsu.

The kunoichi's katana, Honjo Masamune, had whispered through the air as she had rose it into an attack stance, leaving it completely out of its scabbard. Only a few seconds of silence and thick atmosphere did she launch herself forward towards Sasuke. With all her weight behind the blade, she struck at Sasuke's neck but he had effortlessly flicked Kusanagi up to catch hers. But due to the force, he was forced behind her blade in which he hadn't expected, and was thrown back. "Heh..." He still was surprised by how she could easily overpower him with her blade, leaving him stunned that he would constantly underestimate how much strength she would add in each attack. It varied, it was never constant.

Never leaving an opening to go to waste, she had pushed forward, her blade hissing back and forth through the air like a dance or more like a possession as if it had a mind of it's own. Sasuke still wore the calm and serene expression while hers took on a more manic excitement. Her blade had slammed again and again into his, the strength increasing over the course of strikes.

It came to a point where all he could do was anticipate and back her strikes, leaving her less to zero time to try and land a offensive blow of her own. Sasuke had threw his full strength behind his sword, and lunged at her but she had easily anticipated it, and twisted to the side so that the blade swept past her. Her hand had snapped out and Sasuke's sword fell, landing straight on the grass covered ground.

Both of them were breathing quite heavily, traces of sweat on their brows. "You'll never beat me in kenjutsu." She had said arrogantly, "Kumogakure is filled with the best. This is my life." Placing Honjo Masamune back in its scabbard, she had picked up Kusanagi and inspected it to see if it had taken any damage. "But you're quite the swordsman, Sasuke."

His expression was the usual calm one, he was always composed even though she knew he was annoyed that he had lost... again. "How is that you know which move I'm going to make?" asked the Uchiha, his hand taking his sword out of her hand. "You always know what to counter."

"You have the element of surprise, I'll give you that." Her hands were now on her hips, her eyes continuing to observe him, "But you lack conviction. You're too calculating, sometimes you need to rely on luck. If you go against another calculating person then you'll always be countered. You have to take risks."

He soaked in her words as he had placed Kusanagi back in it's sheath, "That's the most idiotic advice I have ever heard." He then walked ahead, Taiga's mouth open agape in shock that he had called her advice idiotic.

"Don't be angry with me that you lost!" Sucking her teeth, she had watched as he continued in slow strides towards the hideout.

Following behind him, she had wondered what was going on in his mind. For the past couple of days, he was training relentlessly with Orochimaru, which was usual but it seemed more rushed now. He had mastered just about everything Orochimaru had taught, quickly, in which was no surprise to her. Yet, despite that, it had felt like he had something up his sleeves. Taiga wasn't sure if she was just paranoid or there was something that Sasuke was planning to do.

"Have you seen Suigetsu, lately?" She had asked him, "Or maybe Karin?"

"No." He answered truthfully, "You can visit them. Why don't you if you're curious about them?"

It was true, she easily could, but the Southern Hideout was really far and the Eastern one where Suigetsu was, was all the way in Otogakure. "Mm..." She had hummed in thought as she continued forward.

"What are your plans for Orochimaru?" His question had caught her off guard, her eyes looking at him with much confusion and skepticism. "Will you stay loyal or will you go your own path?"

"What's with that question?" Raising a brow, she had stopped walking when she noticed his steps ceased. "Are you...planning something?" Her brows had knitted together, her eyes slightly squinting as she had stared at his back.

Sasuke was silent for a few seconds, even letting a breeze pass by which made the trees and bushes rustle. "Where do you stand, Taiga?"

The kunoichi was silent for a brief moment, her eyes traveling down towards her feet before closing. A second breeze had whistled through, brushing through her hair and gliding over her skin. "I stand on my own side." She finally replied, her eyes opening halfway. "I'm only using Orochimaru to grow stronger because of my circumstance."

She had raised her head and looked towards Sasuke, his chin resting on his right shoulder as his eyes had peered over at her feet. A 'hmph' escaping him, "Our goals are the same." His feet carried him away, leaving her to stare at his back as the distance between them had grown.

"Mm..." She slowly nodded, "We both want revenge."

* * *

**Author's Note:** So, what do you guys think so far?


	2. Chapter One: Their Bonds

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Masashi Kishimoto does!

* * *

"Sasuke is a very responsible person." Sometimes she wasn't sure why she praised the Uchiha, especially when he didn't deserve it, but in this case... She figured he did. "He's very meticulous." Taiga continued to explain to Kabuto, who had just finished leaving Orochimaru's room after giving him his daily medicine. "You should know that, you're like that yourself."

"I suppose you do have a point." The silver-haired shinobi spoke, his dark eyes traveling towards the empty cup in his hands briefly before giving the girl in front of him his complete attention. "But then again, why should I care? It's not my business."

Before the girl could respond, both of them had looked to their left to see Sasuke calmly approaching them down the corridor. "Talking about me, Taiga?"

"Yeah, I'm talking about you. Who left all those kunais scattered around the place in the clearing?" She had asked him, her arms now folded under her bust. "Was it you? I figured it wasn't since you usually clean up after yourself."

"Then who else would it be? Orochimaru-sama is far too tired right now to be training." Kabuto noted, both of them still looking towards Sasuke.

He had looked at them without so much a smidgen of an expression on his face. "It was me. I had taken a nap."

Her eyes had narrowed, her hands now resting on her hips. "Are you crazy? What if someone saw them?"

"What if someone saw them?" He asked, his onyx eyes meeting her own. "Does that mean they would find the hideout? How in one breath you call me responsible and the next you're not?"

"My mind changes, my thoughts never stay the same." Taiga said matter-of-factly, huffing as she did so. "Besides, if someone saw them then that means they would expect other ninjas to be around. It's careless."

"If it bothered you so much, why didn't you clean them up?" His voice was still leveled, but was added more attitude in it.

"I shouldn't have had to!" He was slightly grating on her nerves, leaving her right eye twitching out of irritation. "They shouldn't have been lying about."

Taiga didn't want to argue with him and she could tell that he too was growing annoyed. So instead of bickering, she had left first, taking a right down the hall and towards the one room she occupied out of the many rooms the hideout had.

"He's annoying..." She mumbled, her hands bawling into tight fists as she had tried to channel her anger elsewhere. She couldn't think of anything, which didn't bode well with her.

"Taiga." Pausing, she had looked over her shoulder to Kabuto. "Orochimaru-sama wants to see you."

What did he want? Nodding, she had turned around and walked back down the hall and made her way towards Orochimaru's chamber. She knocked twice before she had heard a 'Come in'. Opening the door, she had walked inside the large room to see the man in a rather extremely ill state.

He was sitting up with a slouch in his back, stifling a few coughs that left his throat with his hands covering his mouth. The coughs sounded like they were making his throat sore and his body shook heavily with each cough. It seemed like he was getting worse before he was getting better.

"Orochimaru-sama," Taiga had sighed, "you're not getting better, are you?" The man was strange, he always has been but in a way she had felt a slight attachment to him. He was the one who made her strong; she would never forget that.

He found her, took her in, and that was more than enough to feel sorry for him now that he was in such a state. Despite her pity, she was somewhat glad that his life seemed to be on the line. Orochimaru was a man who had hands that were drenched with blood that would never be clean.

"Are you feeling sorry for me, Taiga?" A smirk appeared on his face as he had asked, her mouth making a thin line before dipping into a frown. "You've always been quite honest how you feel about me, so go on, continue to be that way." Her lips had parted, wanting to speak but she found herself unable to. "To have Taiga pity me truly assures me that I must be worse for wear."

"You know you're undeserving of it, my pity that is." Taiga finally spoke, "But even I can't stand to see someone who looks like they're dying."

A laugh had erupted in the air, the sound of it startling at her first but then making her feel uneasy. Was her act of sympathy really that humorous to him? He must've had a very droll sense of amusement to find that funny, at least that was Taiga's opinion about it anyway.

Midst his laughing, he broke into a coughing fit, alarming her but she had stayed in her spot; her feet firmly planted on the floor. Orochimaru had cleared his throat, his hand resting over his mouth for a few seconds before he removed it and spoke, "Well...I think I have laughed much more than I have expected to today. And for that, I thank you."

The sarcasm in his tone was so painfully there, which made the kunoichi close her eyes tightly in frustration. "You really get a kick out of pissin' me off."

"It's because your temper is incredibly short." The way he was so matter-of-fact with it had irked her more. His golden, slit eyes had observed her fists bawling up at her sides. He kept a smirk before his eyes had glanced up towards her face. "I'll be well soon. So quell your worrying."

Despite the truth in his words, she much rather not hear that from him. Instead, Taiga remained silent instead of countering him. When he mentioned that he would be well soon as a way to cease her "worrying", she had sighed and shaken her head. "Why would I be worried about you, Orochimaru-sama? Aren't you supposed to be invincible? Aren't you supposed to say that me doubting you is an insult?"

His raspy voice had let out a titter, much to her disliking. "For you to dislike me, you have a habit of observing me."

"You know what they say, Orochimaru-sama." A smirk had appeared on her face, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

"Indeed they do." He nodded, "But as your sensei and enemy, have you showed any positive results from your training or are you still struggling with your kekkei genkai?"

Her eyes had lowered in thought, a sigh escaping her. "I've shown little improvement but it is still out of control; it's far too dangerous."

"I see." His eyes had briefly closed, "Why not have Sasuke help you? He has easily been able to mix chakra natures and also possesses the lightning nature"

"Asking Sasuke to do anything like that is like asking a cow to milk itself." Taiga scoffed, her hands on her hips. "Besides, he's already unhappy about how he cannot rival me in Kenjutsu, do you think he needs anymore of advantage on me in Ninjutsu? I think not."

"Your pride will not help you become stronger at this rate." Orochimaru said as she had looked at him, her eyes in thought but her mouth still in a frown. "I can't wear my body out too much, training you would be difficult unless I just observe. There are still things I must teach Sasuke."

"Which reminds me, I promised to do so today." Taiga had nodded understandingly, "Your kekkei genkai really needs for you to concentrate for you to control it. Only you can do it, I can just simply lead you the steps to achieving it but it is all you in the end."

His words had stuck with her, feeling as if that might be entirely true. With a nod, she had decided that it was about time she took her leave. "I understand." She had turned around and left his chamber, going right and down the hall.

Maybe if she read a few scrolls or took a nap she would get a little confidence about trying again instead of hesitating. When she had reached her room, she had laid down on her bed and rolled to her side. A yawn had escaped her, her eyes falling half closed. "Sasuke's too strong for his own good. It makes me a little jealous... He's so competent that it pisses me off..."

Taiga continued her rant rambling before finally finding herself falling asleep into a much needed nap before she went to go train.

**o**O**o**

Taiga had jolted from the bed, her chest rising up and down rapidly as she had to fight to catch her breath. Her heart was pounding, almost as hard as if it was going to leap out of her chest cavity in any second. Her body was glistening with a thin sheet of sweat and her blankets were in a disarray from the constant trashing, rolling, and fighting her sleep.

Her eyes had quickly went to the door, her eyes narrowing. Something wasn't right. The air had felt extremely heavy and unsettling. She had quickly used the bathroom in her room to wash herself off and changed into a new pair of her usual attire. As she was fixing the greave on her right leg, she had felt an unknown presence, Orochimaru's and Kabuto's chakra.

The door had opened, revealing three figures. Her eyes immediately went to the pale-skinned boy with short, straight black hair and black eyes to match. He wore a smile, which was quite unpleasant due to the lack of emotion behind it. Taiga had frowned, deeply, already disapproving. "Come along, Taiga." Orochimaru had said to her, the girl nodding obediently as she left her room and followed behind them down the hall.

Within the largest room in the hideout, there was a room where there was a large statue of a snake coiled up with its eyes aflame due to the candles within them. It made it eerie since the room was extremely dark, the only light was the eyes and the few candles that hung around the large room's wall.

Sasuke was sitting in the room, his sharingan activated and shining brightly within the darkness. "You're late." Taiga knew he was referring to Orochimaru, she had remembered that the two were going to train in the afternoon. "You said you would teach me a new technique this afternoon, Orochimaru."

Kabuto had spoke up, "Again with the rude tone." Taiga figured that after all these years, Kabuto would get use to the fact that Sasuke would never respect Orochimaru but she thought wrong on that case.

"Take it easy." Orochimaru spoke, a slight grin on his face. "I picked up a little present to make it up to you." Taiga followed Orochimaru's gaze to the strange boy, "He's a konoha shinobi, just like you." His words had surprised her but it was obvious due to the leaf insignia on his headband, which was proudly on his forehead. "I thought you two could reminisce about the good old days in the village."

"Hmph." His reaction did not surprise her as the two had stared each other down. Taiga was unsure if she liked what direction this was going, but she wondered why Orochimaru had allowed this boy in their hideout so easily.

In a matter of seconds, the boy had sported a strange smile. "Hi there. I'm Sai." He introduced himself, "You must be Uchiha Sasuke-kun—"

"Get bent." Sasuke interrupted.

Things were definitely going awry. "Even if I force myself to smile, I guess I'm just easy to hate." Sai said, his head halfway lowered with a look of somewhat defeat. "Naruto-kun hated me right from the start, too." 'Naruto...?' Taiga had repeated, feeling as though the name was strikingly familiar. "Though, between the two of you, I think I'll get along better with you."

"Ha!" All eyes were on her for her sudden outburst, despite feeling embarrassed about it, she merely gave a smug look. "Nobody can get along with Sasuke. I've known him for years and he and I barely get along."

The Uchiha had hmph'd once more, "I like challenges." Sai had said to Taiga, causing her to shake her head. His eyes had then ventured back to Sasuke, his eyes changed. It was immediately noted that the Uchiha had placed Sai in a genjutsu, the boy falling on his bum.

"Sasuke-kun!" Kabuto yelled out of warning.

"Oi, what's the sense, Kabuto-kun? You think he's gonna listen to ya?" Taiga had looked back at Sasuke and then to Sai, noticing the boy wipe his face and realized there was sweat.

"I wouldn't bother Sasuke-kun, if I were you." Orochimaru warned Sai, "His temper's even worse than mine."

"I've got nothing to say to this loser." Sasuke spoke again before he stood up, "Train me now, Orochimaru."

Sai did not quit however. "I've heard a lot about you from Naruto-kun. He's been trying to find you this whole time, for the entire three years."

"Yeah, I remember him." Sasuke's words had surprised Taiga, her curiosity over this boy named Naruto growing. "Let's go, Orochimaru."

As Sasuke made his way to leave, Sai continued on. "Naruto-kun truly thinks of you as a brother. Sakura-san told me that."

The slow turn and then the reveal of Sasuke's angry face had nearly made Taiga's heart stop, her mind only remembered his face contorting in such a manner was when he thought about Itachi. "I only have one brother." He said clearly, the candles illuminating his face and making it much scarier. "And all I care about is killing him."/ppTurning around, he took one step and then disappeared with a swirl of smoke left behind. The kunoichi had her hand bawled in a loose fist and over her chest, somewhat concerned. Something just didn't feel right. It didn't feel right at all.

Orochimaru had walked towards Kabuto, "All right, I'll be going. Kabuto, make a Bingo Book out of these." He said while handing the white-hair shinobi an envelope.

"Yes." Kabuto had said, taking the envelope from Orochimaru's hands.

"I'll leave the rest in your hands." Taiga had then looked towards Orochimaru, who had looked at her as well. "Behave." She scoffed, noticing the smirk on his face as he had walked away. Kabuto had opened the envelope, pulling out a small stack of paper and gasping. "These are copies of the files of the Hokage-controlled ANBU." So Sai was a Konoha traitor? Her distrust for him had grown as Kabuto scanned diligently through the papers. "These seem to be the real deal." Kabuto had then turned towards them both, "Taiga, I'll be taking Sai to a room."

"Mm." She nodded understandingly, "I'll be going to mine."

All three of them had walked down the hallway together. It was dreadfully quiet and the atmosphere was way worse than it was before. The tension was increasing, especially due to Taiga's distrust of the Konoha shinobi with them. "What's your name?"

"Taiga." Her answer was quick.

"Taiga, like the animal?" He questioned and she had answered him with a nod, "That's interesting. I suppose it doesn't fit you though."

Kabuto had looked over his shoulder, seeing the look on Taiga's face as she dared to ask why. "What makes you say that, Sai?"

"Tigers are supposed to be quite majestic, but you don't hold that look on you." Kabuto sighed as he had watched the girl slowly start to lose her temper, her hands now fists and a growl in her throat.

"Taiga, you can walk ahead." Her eyes had went to Kabuto, knowing he was trying to make her not outright attack the leaf shinobi, "Sai... I would prefer if you don't insult any of the shinobi here. They have abilities that you do not want to be tested on you."

Taiga smirked at Kabuto's warning before picking up the pace and walking ahead of them. "I did not mean to insult her. I just wanted to share an honest opinion."

"You should keep your opinions to yourself." The kunoichi spat, growing very much annoyed in Sai's presence.

"I'll keep that in mind." He responded, the walk down the hall now becoming silent like it was before but with much more tension. "Excuse me," He said directed towards Kabuto.

"Hm?" hummed Orochimaru's assistant, giving indication he was listening.

"I'd like to meet everyone else who's currently in this base." said Sai.

They had taken a couple more steps until Kabuto stopped walking, Taiga and Sai both doing the same. "There's no need to or rather you can't right now. Orochimaru-sama's only subordinates here at the moment are Sasuke-kun, Taiga-san, and myself."

With that said, they continued walking forward without so much of any words being said. When she had reached her room, she had opened the door but before she walked in, she had then noticed Kabuto gave Sai the room next to hers. With a groan, she had walked in her room and decided to ignore it.

"I am kind of hungry... And I don't have any food pills." Taiga had sighed, placing her hands on her hips for a few minutes while deciding if she could go without food or get some. "I should be training instead of slacking but I know Kabuto wants me to keep an eye on that dumbass next door."

Sighing, she had opened her room door and looked to her right to see Sai's door open. Curious, she had suppressed her chakra and took slow and quiet steps over, keeping her hearing focused on his room. "Why the hell did you turn on us, traitor?!"

Her eyes had widened as she had kept her back on the door, listening on to what was happening inside. There was someone else in the room with Sai, and there might've been more than just one person. "You really shouldn't be so noisy, or things will get even more difficult." That was Sai's voice for sure.

"You bast-"

A female voice had interrupted, "Naruto." She had then spoke to what seemed to be to Sai, "Here. This... is yours, right?"

"Thank you."

"Danzo's orders, right?"

"He's plotting something involving Orochimaru, isn't he? And you were chosen to be their liaison. What are they up to?"

Another voice had spoke, someone seemingly more like an adult male. "He wants to team up with Orochimaru to try a new "Crush the Leaf" plan, doesn't he?"

So they were all Leaf Shinobi. They must've been Naruto and Sakura like Sai mentioned earlier to Sasuke. "No, he doesn—"

"We know that smile is fake!" The person she assumed was Naruto said, "And we also know you're lying!"

"Now that you've all discovered me here, my mission is a failure. I can't finish you all off by myself. And since you've figured this much out, there's no point in trying to hide the truth. It's just as you said. We're trying to destroy the current Konoha."

"What?"

"I was to be taken in by Orochimaru with the understanding that I would help him conspire against Konoha. That is the true mission that was assigned to me."

"Do you understand what you're saying?! That's—"

"That's not all." Sai interrupted, "I'm also to secretly send back information on Orochimaru to Danzo-sama. In other words, I'm also working as a spy."

"Keep talking." The older male said, "And don't leave a single thing out."

Sakura had spoke once again, "So you're supposed to be part of an alliance with Orochimaru while spying on him behind his back? That's so dangerous..."

"The moment Konoha is destroyed, Orochimaru will definitely betray us. It's a preventative measure to make sure we keep the upper hand."

"I see."

"Danzo wants to make Konoha his." Taiga couldn't fathom why the girl sounded so sympathetic towards Sai, "And you're supposed to make it happen all by yourself?"

"The information I write on my scrolls, takes on the form of small animals. That's how I can still leak information without compromising my safety. I was chosen for this mission because of that ability."

"If Konoha is thrown into chaos, lots of people will die again!" Sakura yelled. "Do you really understand what it is you're trying to do?!"

"Who cares? I'm just following orders." Taiga wanted to scoff at Sai's nonchalance, his regard for human life wasn't even visible.

"Sai, you..."

"One more thing. The name "Sai" was assigned to me for this mission. I am no one. I am merely one of Danzo-sama's arms. I do not exist. There's no point in saying anything to me."

There was a moment of silence and during that silence, Taiga wondered what should she do. Should she relay this information to Kabuto or bother Orochimaru and Sasuke's training?

Closing her eyes, she decided to tell Orochimaru himself. She had disappeared in a cloud of white plum petals and made her way to the training area.

The area was nearly destroyed, whatever Sasuke learned, it was powerful. "Taiga, why are you interrupting my training?" She had looked in the direction where Sasuke stood.

"I didn't come here for you, idiot. I came here for Orochimaru-sama, but I guess you should know that your leaf friends are here."

Orochimaru had looked towards Taiga, "You have information to tell?"

"Mm." Taiga nodded, "I'm sure you know that Sai was going to betray you in the end with Danzo, didn't you?"

"Danzo isn't necessarily a trustworthy person, I was going to end up betraying him but I guess he saw through me."

"In any case, if they are trying something then Kabuto has already interfered." Taiga had said, "But I don't trust Sai and the odds are against him."

Orochimaru had hummed in thought. "He'll be fine." He had then looked towards the Uchiha, "You've mastered the technique, Sasuke-kun. Now, shouldn't we go pay your friends a visit?"

Sasuke was silent as both Taiga and Orochimaru awaited for his reaction. "I'm taking a rest." Sasuke had then disappeared, leaving Orochimaru and Taiga to understand his answer.

"Come with me, Taiga." Orochimaru said, the girl nodding as they had disappeared and went back to the base. When they arrived, they had appeared in the same hall that Sai and Naruto was sitting in.

'So that's Naruto, huh?' Her eyes had observed the spiky, blonde hair boy with bright, big blue eyes and six whisker-like marks on his face. There were three on each cheek.

Both Taiga and Orochimaru had taken a couple of steps forward, alerting the two of their presence. "All right, Sai, whose side will you take now?" Both boys had stood, obviously preparing to fight. "Sen'ei Jashu!" Orochimaru had pulled his right arm back before thrusting it forward, two snakes had headed towards both boys, but they had managed to escape by taking a couple of jumps back. "It looks like you're on their side after all, Sai... or whatever your name is."

"I'll keep them busy." Naruto had told Sai, "Sai, please go look for Sasuke!" Sai had hesitated, which made Naruto's voice rise. "Hurry!"

"Very well." He agreed, nodding his head. "I'll find Sasuke-kun and get him out of here."

"Haa!" Taiga burst into a fit of laughter, "You couldn't even fight his Genjutsu and you think you're going to take him out of here?" Both of them had looked at her, "Sasuke doesn't want to leave. He's staying here out of his own free will, you're only setting yourselves up to get hurt." Both of them had grimaced but Sai had ran down the hall anyway, "Idiots..."

"So you've come here to take Sasuke-kun home, have you?" Orochimaru questioned the blond-haired boy. "Your persistence is impressive, but will things really go as you wish? Taiga knows Sasuke pretty well, you should've taken her words seriously."

"I don't care..." said Naruto, both Orochimaru and Taiga remained silent as he had spoke. "I don't care if you're close friends with Sasuke and I don't care if you're one of the Legendary Sannin, like Ero-sensei or Granny Tsunade." His hands were pressed together in jutsu formation.

Orochimaru wore a sinister grin while Taiga had shaken her head in disappointment. "Idiot..." She mumbled.

"I'm gonna kick both your asses and take Sasuke back!" He declared.

"Take Sasuke back? Do you know how you sound?!" Taiga finally yelled, taking one step forward as she raised her fist. "You can't take someone back unless they are kidnapped! Sasuke left! He left on his own volition. If you know Sasuke, you know damn well he's determined and if he wants to do something, he'll do it!"

The boy appeared surprised at her words, his eyes narrowing and his brows furrowing. "You don't know—"

"It's you that doesn't know anything!" She nearly screamed, already angry at how stupidly persistent the boy was. "Sasuke has changed, and you don't know him anymore!"

The legendary sannin had then moved his arm in front of Taiga, not allowing her to take any steps forward. "There's no reasoning."

Her eyes had looked up at Orochimaru, his eyes focused on the boy ahead of them "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

Many clones of Naruto had appeared and all headed towards him. Orochimaru had grinned, "Sen'ei Jashu!" He released four snakes, which flew from his sleeve, coming out of their mouths seemed to be metal-like blades.

Taiga had ran forward, unsheathing her sword and slicing any clones she managed to get near while avoiding Orochimaru's jutsu. "Rasengan!" She looked up to see two clones, one already dispersing, while one had a bright ball of chakra.

It destroyed one of the snakes but the other three had already destroyed the clone. When she had seen the real Naruto thrusting his kunai towards Orochimaru, she had ran forward and grabbed the boy by the ankle and swung him towards the ground.

He had rolled across the floor some distance away as she had stood protectively in front of the snake sannin. "Son of a—" He muttered, writhing on the ground.

"What happened to all the energy you had earlier?" asked Orochimaru, his grin still stretching on his face. "Your power... The Kyuubi's power..." The girl in front of him had wide eyes, shock forming on her face.

'Kyuubi? This boy, he's the... He's the ninetails jinchuuriki?!' Naruto had slowly gotten to his feet, panting heavily.

A cackle escaped his throat, "Show me what you're truly capable of!"

"Orochimaru-sama!" Taiga said his name out of warning. She knew that the sannin couldn't keep using his powers, it was dangerous. He couldn't afford to keep wearing down his already deteriorating body.

He hmph'd, "I'll be fine." He didn't say out of comfort but more out of arrogance. "Sei'ei Jashu." As before, four snakes had left his sleeve with those metal blades leaving their mouths, protruding dangerously towards Naruto.

Before they could touch the jinchuuriki, a wooden tendril broke through one side of the wall and hit the other side, shielding Naruto. Two ninjas appeared, the girl, Sakura, and the adult that was with them. "Orochimaru again?"

Naruto looked to Sakura, who had given him a nod. The only person missing was Sai. "Orochimaru-sama..."

"One more minute." He said, knowing what she was going to ask. "Naruto-kun, I'll let you live for now. Please do your best to kill at least one Akatsuki for me, okay?"

"Wh-What?!" Naruto uttered, confused yet surprised.

"Now then, I have business with that Sai boy. If you'll excuse us." Placing a hand on Taiga's shoulder, they had both disappeared as a wisp of smoke.

Taiga had appeared alone in the already destroyed room that Sasuke stayed in. He had stood on a ledge while Sai was on the ground below, staring up at him. She was beside Sasuke, who placed his hand on his hip as he had stared down at the boy below them.

"You've decided to join me, Taiga?" Sasuke casually asked as she had rolled her eyes. He did not say more as both Sakura and Naruto had entered, standing on each side of Sai.

"Sasuke..." The blond had mumbled his name, in somewhat disbelief.

Taiga's eyes had followed Sasuke, seeing his onyx eyes focused on them all but more so on Naruto. "Naruto? So you're here too?" The wood jutsu user had then walked in, "I assume Kakashi's with you, as well."

"Sorry, I'm not Kakashi-san." The man had said. "I'm here in his place. And the new Team Kakashi is taking you back to Konoha."

"Team Kakashi...?" His eyes then followed to Sai's hand, which had reached for the handle of his wakizashi, unsheathing it.

"Sai, I knew it, you're—!" The pink-haired kunoichi began to say, alerting the other two males.

"So he's my replacement?" Sasuke queried, "Another loser joins the ranks. He said something about wanting to protect my "bond" with Naruto."

"Sai, wasn't your mission to—" The girl was cut off again, but this time by Sai.

Sai kept his sword pointing to Sasuke, "Yes, my secret mission was to assassinate Sasuke-kun. But I don't care about my orders anymore. I want to act of my own free will. And I think Naruto-kun can help me remember... What it was like to feel. I think it was something very important." He was no longer talking to Sakura, he now directed the conversation to Sasuke. "I don't know much about you, but there must be a reason why Naruto-kun and Sakura-san came all this way just for you! They are going all out to keep their bonds with you from being severed! I still don't understand it myself, but Sasuke-kun, you should!"

Sasuke had briefly closed his eyes as Taiga looked down at the ground, her gaze softening upon hearing those words. "Oh, I do." She had looked to the Uchiha, his eyes immediately opening. "That's why I severed them!"

Both Sakura and Naruto had looked shocked but most of all hurt by his words, she knew they were going to get hurt, that's why she wished they had changed their minds. Her eyes had closed, her head turning away.

His eyes had closed once again, obviously reflecting on something before he opened them again. "I have a different "bond."" There was silence for a few minutes, Taiga now looking back at Sasuke, worried. "A bond of hatred with my brother." A strong breeze had flew, it was loud but gentle. "Other bonds merely confuse you... and distract you from your greatest desires, and the emotions that matter."

"Then why...?" Naruto muttered, "Why didn't you..." His eyes were shut tightly, his voice shaking. "Why didn't you kill me?!" He yelled as he shook his head, "Is this your idea of cutting bonds, Sasuke?!"

"Naruto..." Sakura calmly called him, obviously worried.

"It's simple..." Sasuke had begun to answer him, "It's not that I couldn't cut off my bonds with you. The idea of doing what he said in order to become more powerful made me sick."

"What're you talking about?" Naruto questioned. Just as confused as everyone else.

"I don't owe you any explanations." The Uchiha said simply, "All I'll say about back then... That day, I let you live on a whim. "It was sudden but Sasuke had leaped forward, his left hand resting on Naruto's shoulder while his other hand was on his hip as he looked over Naruto's left shoulder. Nobody had seen him move, he was quicker than their eyes could see. "Come to think of it, wasn't your dream to become Hokage? You should've spent your time training instead of wasting it running around chasing me. Right, Naruto?"

"S-Sasuke-kun...?" Sakura had called out to him.

Sasuke continued on, ignoring the pink-haired kunoichi. "And this time, I'm going to kill you on a whim."

"Sasuke." Taiga tried to interfere as the black-haired, rogue shinobi had unsheathed Kusanagi, using it in reverse.

"Someone who can't save even one friend isn't fit to become Hokage." Naruto had said, "Right, Sasuke?" Sasuke had moved his sword to stab the blond in the back but before Taiga could stop it, Sai had grabbed the wrist Sasuke held the blade, his sword in his other hand.

"That was the correct way to block my attack." Sasuke said to Sai as Naruto flipped over the Uchiha's arm in attempt to twist his arm, but Sasuke summoned chidori, shocking both boys away to avoid the wooden tendril being sent his way.

Taiga had jumped down once Sasuke's chidori was deactivated. "Sasuke," She said his name out of warning, "that's enough."

His eyes had looked at her from the corners, "What is making you interfere?" He asked her, curious.

"You don't want to do this." She closed her eyes halfway but both of them had seen the kunoichi charging at him, he had chidori coat his blade and prepared it to attack her but the wooden user interfered, taking the stab.

Taiga had grimaced as Sasuke had him pressed against a boulder size debris. "That was the wrong way..." He informed him as both she and Sakura realized that the man was stabbed in the heart. The Uchiha pushed the sword into him, the man dropped the kunai as he grimaced and writhed in pain. "to block my attack. My sword Kusanagi has a unique blade. Guarding against it is impossible."

The man had struggled continuously, "Sasuke..."

"Taiga," He was growing annoyed by her growing sympathy of the leaf shinobi. They had both looked towards Naruto, who was struggling to push himself from off the ground. His nails had grown like claws, his eyes red and slit.

Taiga knew it must've been the ninetails chakra started to take over him. This wasn't good. However, Sasuke continued to stare Naruto down with his sharingan activated eyes and soon the boy reverted back to his normal self. Yamato had used a jutsu to push the sword out of his chest, pushing Sasuke back.

He then did the handseals of another jutsu, "Mokuton: Mokujou: Heki!" Tendrils had came flying from the ground and tried to make a cage to capture Sasuke, Taiga had unsheathed her sword quickly, doing a quick slash, leaving Sasuke to escape, jumping into the air and towards the ledge where she met him.

Both of them had their swords out of their scabbards, ready to attack again if need be as they peered down at the group of shinobi. "Why?" Naruto yelled, his hands bawling into fists as his voice rose in volume, his brows furrowed in anger and his blue eyes blazing. "Why don't you get it?!" He said, clenching his teeth. "Orochimaru's gonna take over your body."

"If that's what happens, then it happens." Sasuke responded calmly, Taiga's frown deepening. Was it that obvious or was Orochimaru parading that around? She knew, she knew that was Orochimaru's plan all along. Sasuke had told her that long ago but she also knew that from the other shinobi they knew that he had been taken. "You still think like a kid, Naruto. My revenge is everything to me." Naruto had struggled to stand, his body quaking until it gave out and he fell with his hands pressed to the ground. "As long as I can exact it, I don't care what happens to me or anyone else. Here's the situation: Right now, neither I nor Orochimaru are a match for Itachi. If sacrificing my body to Orochimaru is the only way to kill him, I'd give up my life a million times over."

Taiga's frown had deepened, hoping that Sasuke didn't mean it. She always believed at one point Sasuke was going to kill Orochimaru, isn't that why not too long ago he had asked her where her loyalties lied? There was no way he was willing... But either way, the leaf shinobi looked in disturbance to the boy's words.

The wooden jutsu user had then stood, walking slowly towards Sasuke. "Enough talk. Naruto, Sakura, I'd hope I wouldn't have to injure him in front of you two, but I need to get serious now."

"Captain Yamato..." Sakura muttered, concerned as to what he meant.

"Get serious?" Naruto said, also unsure of what the man meant.

"He's the same as Orochimaru, a rogue ninja who deserted the village and can't be allowed to roam free. We're taking him back to Konoha, no matter what!"

"Konoha?" Sasuke wanted to scoff upon the name of the village, "I've had it with all of you." He stabbed Kusanagi into the ground and began to do a number of handseals, a aura of strong chakra had appeared around his body as he rose his right hand, but before he could continue with the jutsu, Orochimaru had suddenly appeared and grabbed his wrist and diffused it.

"You are not using that technique, Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru had warned him.

Sasuke, as nonchalant and annoyed as ever, retorted. "Beat it."

Kabuto had then appeared to Taiga's right, both her and Sasuke looking towards him. "Come now, you're still using such foul language with Orochimaru-sama?"

"I don't see any reason to stop." He answered honestly.

"You know what the Akatsuki is up to, don't you?" Kabuto asked. Sasuke had looked at him in a choleric manner "That's why we want Konoha to help eliminate them. Even if it's just one. If the other Akatsuki members interfere, then you'll have more trouble taking your revenge, right?"

"That's pathetic." The Uchiha sneered.

"It's an opportunity to improve your chances, even if by only 1%." He looked to Sasuke, "Agreed?"

They had all looked back down at the leaf ninja, Sasuke loosened his pose and Orochimaru had let go of his wrist. "Let's go." Orochimaru ordered, Sasuke had placed his sword back in it's scabbard.

All four of them had disappeared in flames.

**o**O**o**

They were taken to Kusagakure, the Eastern Hideout. It was the next location to go if the other had been discovered. Sasuke had walked ahead, not bothering to say a word. "Sasuke," Taiga had called his name and then stood in front of him.

"You've been more annoying than usual for the past hour." He said to her, "You're not going to change how I feel."

He already knew her intentions. "You see right through me even without your sharingan activated." Taiga sighed, "I just want you to think more carefully about your choices."

He didn't say anything but watched as she had turned away from him and walked down the hall, picking out what would be her new room.

* * *

**Author's Note:**


	3. Chapter Two: The Search

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Masashi Kishimoto does!

* * *

"So that's what happened, huh?" There was no body, just a tank filled with water with a voice emanating from it. Taiga had stood in front of it, talking to the person inside of it who was like water itself.

"I'm worried about him to be honest." Taiga had frowned, already finished relaying all the details that happened weeks prior of when Naruto and the other leaf shinobi came to their hideout. "I trust that he won't let Orochimaru-sama take his body."

"Sasuke has a really odd way of going about things, you know that." His words weren't necessarily comforting but they were the truth nonetheless. "Still, he's not dumb enough to let Orochimaru have his way."

The corners of her mouth had rose upwards, "You seem to think fondly of Sasuke, Suigetsu-kun. And here I was just thinking it was me and Karin-chan."

He sighed, which made her chuckle since she could tell he was getting annoyed and flustered. "It's not like I care."

"Right." She nodded, "You haven't changed at all, Sui-kun." Her hand had pressed on the glass with a sense of sadness, "I wish I could free you but I can't do that while Orochimaru-sama is still alive and kickin'."

"Heh, afraid of facing him head on?" He questioned, merely teasing but also curious of her answer.

Taiga had removed her hand from the glass and placed it on her hip, "If I could control my Kekkei Genkai, I wouldn't mind tryin'! But, he's a sannin. He's way too powerful although he has been a bit weak lately."

"Even a weak Orochimaru is a strong Orochimaru." She nodded, agreeing with him. "I'm sure Sasuke might use this time to his advantage."

"I agree..." She had mumbled, her eyes looking away as a sense of uneasiness had rested on her shoulders. "Well, I should be going."

"If you're gonna come visit me again then bring me some yogurt, will ya? Oh, and when I'm outta this place, you still owe me a fight, hear me?"

It was the same with both Sasuke and Suigetsu. Whenever they had someone that matched or outranked them in a certain skill, they had to fight them until they won. They were too competitive for her taste. "Yeah yeah!" She waved her hand, leaving the laboratory.

Now that she was back inside the base, she had decided to look for Sasuke. After the incident when the Leaf shinobi had entered their hideout, he had been training and hiding relentlessly. He could've easily killed them all: Sai, Sakura, Yamato, and Naruto. They could've all died there. However, Sasuke didn't believe in killing anyone, in fact she had never seen him kill anyone. All he did was leave people unconscious when he went out and did missions for Orochimaru.

She had stopped in thought, now wondering why she had only just noticed that herself. Slowly, she had raised her hands and looked at them. Taiga never killed anyone in her life either, she promised herself that she was going to save her first death for one person and one person alone. Now she could see that Sasuke was indeed waiting for the same thing. _'We're more alike than I thought...'_ She had mumbled, recalling the events when she had first met Sasuke.

**Flashback**

_It was raining, heavily. Despite how much rain had dropped from the sky, it was quiet and persistent. A young Taiga, at the age of eleven, had stood in that rain and allowed it to mask her tears by becoming one with the rain. Her small shoulders had trembled, soft sobs escaping her throat as she had stared out into the distance. Her mind was still reeling from what happened, unsure of how to deal with the losses she had just dealt with today._

_"Is she a new recruit?" Someone had asked, not bothering to at least whisper._

_Her hair had clung onto her skin, her body completely soaked by the rain as her clothes stuck onto her skin. The blood that had stained them had already washed off, making it look like she did not go through the ordeal that happened only a matter of hours ago. "Yeah, that cloud Ninja, Yuuma went on a killing spree."_

_"Yuuma of the clouds?!"_

_"Yeah! He killed a lot of people today, it's all over the world by now!"_

_Did they have no shame? She could feel her fist balling up at how loudly they spoke, wondering why they didn't consider that she was there. That she had just survive something so traumatic. Clenching her teeth, she felt the tears continue to pour from her eyes as she had tried to choke back the sobs that wanted to continuously leave her throat._

_Suddenly, she couldn't feel the rain._

_Looking up with tear-filled eyes, she had noticed an umbrella. Her eyes had slowly became big in shock as she looked to her right, noticing a small dark-haired boy beside her. Feeling another presence, she looked to her right and saw a red-haired girl. "You know, it's okay to cry and feel angry." said the red-head female._

_"I guess we can say, we know exactly how you feel." A voice that didn't belong to either one of them had said and suddenly a boy with white hair and blue tints at the end of his hair was in front of her. He grinned, revealing his piranha-like, sharp teeth. "So cry all you want."_

_"Who said I was crying?" Taiga huffed, blinking away tears. "It was just the rain on my face."_

_"Eh?" The white-haired boy groaned as he had scratched the back of his wet, stringy hair. "You're worse than Karin."_

_"Shut up." The girl on her left had barked, "Who said she was crying? If she wasn't, she wasn't."_

_Taken back by Karin coming to defense for the girl, Suigetsu folded his arms and huffed. "Sasuke, why don't you help me?"_

_The boy on the right hadn't said anything, just smirking. He had shoved the umbrella towards Taiga. "You can't afford to be ill." And with that, he had walked away from them, leaving Taiga confused._

**End Flashback**

"Taiga." Her attention had shifted away from her thoughts and looked up to see Sasuke standing in the middle of the hall, his expression showing that there was something on his mind.

"Hm?" She hummed, "Don't question why I'm standing here. I was just thinking about something."

He didn't bother to ask what she was thinking about. "You went to see Suigetsu?"

He was concerned about the Hōzuki? Her eyes had softened some, a small smile appearing on her face. He always acted like he didn't care about Suigetsu and Karin, but she knew he did. Deep down. "Yeah."

From her expression he could assume that he was fine and he didn't want to lead on that he was more curious than he already was. "When you leave, are you going to go back to Cloud?"

She had shaken her head. "No, he's not in Cloud. Besides, I left my village. I don't think I can just go back. There's really nothing for me there."

"So the first thing you're going to do is look for Yuuma?" She had nodded in reply, "You don't even have any leads to where he might be."

"I don't care." She put it simply, "I'll tear the world upside down. I'll search behind every tree, in every house, under every rock, in the ground or in the sky until I find him. I don't care if I'll die trying, I'll still search for him."

As she suspected, a 'hmph' had rung in her ears. Her gaze fixated now on her bawled up hand, her fist tightening in the thought of Yuuma. "There's something I'll have to ask you in a few days."

She had furrowed her brows, unsure of what he meant. "You've been acting strangely these past few days. But I'm not sure if I'll be around before you ask me."

"You're leaving already?" He asked as she had looked at him, nodding her head.

"Orochimaru-sama basically told me that he can't teach me how to control Kekkei Genkai, it's up to me. I'm not good at mixing chakra natures and he's too ill to be patient with me." Taiga sighed softly, unbawling her fist and roaming her fingers through her hair. "So, I'll take the time to learn it on my own but... it's about time I stop sticking around here and do what's been sitting on my mind for five years." The atmosphere was quiet, and somewhat awkward. The Uchiha could tell the sincerity in her words, and he knew that she wasn't going to go back on her word whatsoever. "Do what you have to do."

Sasuke was never the one to stop someone, especially when he had no reason to. In fact, she was glad he was like that. "Sasuke," he continued to stare at her to inform her that she still had his attention. She chewed her lip thoughtfully for a moment, her eyes never leaving his face. At last, she sighed and spoke. "Hey, take out Kusanagi."

"…" His face showed his obvious confusion, and he stood there for a moment without doing anything. He seemed more so surprised at the strangeness of her request but for a moment, he must've thought she asked him to fight, and finally he pulled Kusangi from its scabbard.

Unsheathing Honjo Masamune in a smooth motion, she took a few steps closer to him and tapped her blade against his own. "This is called Kincho. It's what samurai do, when they swear an oath." Taiga said softly. The Uchiha had then remembered that Taiga was actually from a samurai family. He recalled when she said her father was a samurai and her mother was a kunoichi. "Well, I guess technically neither one of us is actually a samurai, so we're just going through the motions, I suppose."

"Why?" Sasuke finally asked.

She grinned. "Proof. Proof that we'll see each other again. And you'll survive too. That's the oath we just made. So you trust me, and you get your revenge. And don't die."

Her words were confident and listening to her had made him, surprisingly feel more capable. "It sounds like you doubt that I'll survive."

Of course he would take it the wrong way. She wasn't even sure why she thought doing this was going to make him feel confident, she knew deep down that he felt skeptical about being as strong or stronger than Itachi. "I wouldn't doubt that."

She had sheathed Honjo Masamume and then walked past him. "See ya, Sasuke."

"You're not going to tell Orochimaru you're leaving?" He asked as she kept walking forward.

"He already knows." Taiga replied, "Tell Kabuto-san goodbye for me. He was sleep when I was going to."

"Tch, I'm not your lackey." She nearly scoffed at his words.

"That's exactly why I left a note." He had smirked as her footsteps had became farther and quieter.

**o**O**o**

A few days after leaving the Eastern Hideout, she had heard about Sasuke killing Orochimaru. The rumor had spread quick; each and everyone telling one another the news about how the Uchiha showed the man no mercy. How they knew the battle? She wasn't sure, but she knew that the only way Sasuke had won was because Orochimaru was ill. She knew the day was coming, and from the way he spoke to her last time they spoke, she should've known it was happening soon.

Taiga had taken a boat to the Land of Fire after hearing rumors that a man that fit Yuuma's description had been there. There was a mass murder in one small village and she had wondered if he had been the cause of it. After investigation, she had realized that it wasn't, which led her to no paths towards him.

"Hisakawa village..." mumbled the kunoichi as she had read the sign, her head slightly tilted to the side as she had looked down from the sign and towards the forest path towards the village. She needed rest, a good meal, and then to ask anyone if they had seen Yuuma or a man of his description. Saying his name to people might put them off, so she thought that a description wouldn't shake their memories.

During the course of traveling, she had changed her clothes. She sported regular traveling clothes so that she could blend in well and pulled her hair into a low ponytail. She didn't want anyone knowing that she was a rogue ninja, it would only put her in more trouble and lower her chances.

"First things first," She mumbled, "I gotta eat. I'm starvin'." Her hand had went to her stomach, rubbing in small circles as she could feel it growl due to fact that the last meal she ate was a few days ago.

Walking ahead, she had heard a few voices not too far from her. "There's a rumor going around about these small villages getting slaughtered." An older woman had said, "Do you think Hisakawa village is next?"

"I hope not. I'm really worried..." The other woman replied, "It's already bad enough we're not a ninja village and we're still get caught up in their wars."

Taiga had chewed her lip, wondering if it would be best if she stayed in the village for a while to make sure nothing happened. "Hell, I'd rather be in a ninja village if this kind of thing is happening."

If you're that scared, Konohagakure isn't that much far away from here." Taiga's brow had rose in thought, the leaf ninja now appearing in her mind. "They've been really secure since the ninetails attacked."

"I don't know... Isn't the ninetails trapped in some kid? What if that thing got loose?" Walking ahead, she had reached the village's gate, which had opened for her as she had revealed her traveler's pass.

Her eyes had wandered through the small village, searching for any restaurants or stands. She soon had found a quaint teashop. "Mm, dango and tea sound really good." Running towards the shop, she pushed the sheet door to the side and walked in.

It wasn't full but it wasn't empty either, there was a reasonable amount of customers that it didn't make the atmosphere stuffy. Sitting down at an empty table, she folded her hands on the table's surface and awaited for service.

A large fist had slammed down on a nearby table, Taiga's eyes immediately followed the sound to see a young man with long black hair that was tied in a ponytail with green eyes and his face contorted in an angry expression. "Where's the waitress with our drinks?!" He shouted, "We've been waiting for the past thirty minutes!"

Her lips parted to say something but she decided otherwise. They were obviously people that couldn't be spoken to with reason, they would more likely than not pick a fight and she wasn't in the mood to fight a bunch of thugs. "W-We're sorry!" The female waitress apologized as she had placed their cups down as well as the bottle of sake.

The man sneered at her as she had walked towards Taiga's table, "I just want some hanami dango and white tea." She ordered, the woman nodding and then headed to the back. Looking back to the strange men, Taiga could see them eyeing people in the restaurant, probably picking on who they would bother next or were they there for another reason?

"So, did you hear about that village in Yama valley? They said one man slaughtered everyone in the village." One of the thugs had said, "Just him, all by himself."

"Heh, what did he do it for? Was it a raid?" The ponytail-wearing male asked, leaning in as he was curious of the story.

"They said he's looking for someone and the whole village lied about where that person was and so he killed them." The way he said it so matter-of-factly had left a bad taste in Taiga's mouth. "They said he's looking for a man named Yuuma."

Her ears had perked upon the sound of the name. "Yuuma? Why would he be searching for Yuuma? Yuuma is one of the most dangerous rogue samurai criminals in the world. If found, he's supposed to be killed on sight."

Taiga's eyes had lowered but then noticed the plate that was place in front of her, three sticks of green, white, and pink dangos and the teacup a reasonable distance away from the plate. She had given a nod of gratitude to the waitress while continuing to listen, "I guess everyone's plotting on revenge against him."

Taking a bite of the first dango, she had chewed and listened diligently. "Well, it doesn't matter anyway. Yuuma has been missing for almost, well, three years. I guess the old man decided to stop killing."

Every day there was a new rumor about Yuuma and she wasn't sure if they any of them were reliable, but either way she knew that staying in this village would give her a better clue as to where he was. Somehow.

After finishing her meal and tea, she had placed the money on the table but soon as she was getting ready to leave, the thugs decided to act up. "Whoa whoa! Wadda ya mean, 'no'?!"

"Stop it! Let go of me!" It was the waitress' voice. Taiga's gaze had swept over to the situation, her eyes narrowing.

"We're patriots, fightin' every day to kick those damn ninjas out of our villages! The least you can do is give us a little more booze! Or maybe, even, heh, a little...company...?" The clump of men were harassing the young girl and it seemed like nobody was going to do anything about it.

All eyes were lowered, focused on their food. Was these men supposed to be feared or were the people here just cowards? "Well well well." Taiga inched took a few steps closer, "Guess being a patriot doesn't mean what it used to if we've got men like you throwing yourself around."

"Are you jealous that we didn't ask for your company?" There was no use talking and she was already getting aggravated. A predatory smile appeared on her face, her hand falling on the hilt of Honjo Masamune. There was no mirth in that rictus grin of hers, and the men's face grew several shades paler.

Female samurai or more like onne-bugeisha weren't common in these small villages. So they were only somewhat deflated by the sight of her. "Get out of here you stupid bitch!" One man yelled, the tension growing from bad to worse.

Nobody saw it happen. Not even the glint of the blade or the sound of it slicing the air. Nobody had seen a thing.

All they saw was the men's clothes ripped to shreds and they were down in their boxers, revealing their scrawny bodies to everyone in the teahouse. Customers had burst in a fit of laughter, the men unsure of what people were laughing about until they felt the cold air touch their bare skin.

Any color left had completely drained from their faces, and they turned tail and ran. "At least they were smart enough to run." Taiga mumbled, rolling her shoulder and cracking her neck. "Um... My name is Natsu Suzumoto. Thank you for saving me." The waitress said as she had given a quick bow. She was so refined; so lady-like.

"Why did you tell me your name? I didn't ask." Taiga said, raising a brow. The girl had lowered her eyes, seemingly embarrassed. Not wanting her to feel awkward, Taiga spoke in kind. "My name is Taiga."

"Taiga..." She repeated the name as to keep it in memory, "I wish to thank you properly—"

Shaking her head, Taiga had given her a small smile and turned away. "It's fine. Don't worry about it." Not even giving a proper goodbye, she had walked out of the teahouse and entered back into the village. "Now for an inn..."

"That's her, 'Tou-san! She's the one who destroyed our clothes." Taiga had sighed, looking to her right to see a group of men gathered around together. The thugs whose clothes she had shredded were too busy pointing at her while at the same time trying to cover their boxers.

"Why can't I get a break...?" She whined, stomping her feet slightly as they had made their way over to her. "Look, your kid was harassing a girl. They threatened me and I ended it." She said as the tall men had wore a deep frown and then unsheathed their swords. "Okay, so I guess talking isn't going to cut it."

Suddenly, she was surrounded again. And it wasn't by the group of samurai.

Her eyes had widened when she had caught the spiky yellow hair that she had seen before. "Don't worry, we'll protect you." He said to her, looking at her from over his shoulder.

Taiga had lowered her head, making sure that he couldn't see her face. He should've recognized her immediately. "I didn't ask for your protection..." She mumbled, "But whatever."

"Listen up, punks! Who do you think you are attacking someone when it's seven of you and just one of them?" He yelled.

Her eyes had looked left to see the pink-haired girl, Sakura, from before and then to her right to see the pale boy, Sai. All of them were in the village? She had then looked behind her over her shoulder to see two instructors; Yamato and then one with silver-hair. Could her luck get even worse?

"Are you okay? Do you have any injuries?" Sakura queried, but the girl had taken a step away from her, surprising her.

"I'm fine." Taiga muttered, taking her sword from the sword belt and using it to move the jinchuuriki to the side. "I don't need any of your help. I was fine by myself."

"Huh? But how can you—"

Was he underestimating her? Gritting her teeth, she had growled. "Watch me."

Taiga had ran forward, unsheathing Honjo Masamune, she had went for the man in front, who attempted to smash aside her strike but after blow after blow of his defense being crashed, he had no time to do anything. Not even enough time to even breathe. "C'mon! That all you got?!" She roared as she hit the man's sword one more time, breaking it from the hilt.

The man was startled, dropping the handle and taking a few steps back while the other man went forward in an attempts to protect him. Sweeping the blade in a quick strike, the next man had his sword rebound and was forced back.

Taiga leapt forward, her sword moving too fast for the eye to see: a line of blood simply appeared on the boy's father's face. He clapped his hand to it in surprise and pain, and jumped backward, trying to put space between them.

The man simply stared, eyes wide, at the blood that fell from his face to pool in his hand. "Damn you!" The man uttered, "Damn you, you wench!" He turned and ran, his son following him and his group. Taiga had sheathed his sword, catching her breath.

"Wow, that was amazing!" The girl had said as they had all stood around her.

She kept her head lowered, trying not to get any attention to her face. "Wait..." Yamato muttered, the girl's eyes widened. "You seem awfully familiar."

"Taiga." Sai had said her name, all of them looking in shock. The one person who didn't was the spiky, silver-haired man with a face mask.

"The girl that was in Orochimaru's hideout?" He spoke, trying to register what was going on.

Seeing as she couldn't hide her identity anymore, she had looked up at them and sighed. "What are you going to do, take me into custody?"

"Why are you here? Is Sasuke—" Naruto began to get into a fully interrogation.

Rolling her eyes, she had folded her arms under her bust. "Sasuke isn't here. Sasuke and I have separated days ago before—"

"He killed Orochimaru, right?" Yamato finished, the girl nodded her head in answer. "That still doesn't explain why you're here and we have the right to detain you because you're a criminal."

Tilting her head back, she had closed her eyes in aggravation. "And how am I a criminal? Because you saw me at Orochimaru-sama's hideout? I have not committed a single crime."

Yamato was stunned for a moment, "I'm here for my own reasons. I have no reason or obligation to answer you. And no, I don't know where Sasuke is. So don't even bother to ask."

"But you do know what he's planning to do, don't you?" Sakura had asked her, "I mean you seemed to know him pretty well."

"To have known Sasuke as long as you've all had, I'm pretty sure you guys know what he is going to do." Taiga sighed, "If you don't then you shouldn't go after him; you shouldn't go after him regardless."

Pushing past Naruto, she had walked ahead. "He's looking for Itachi..." He muttered, now putting two and two together. "But why didn't you go with him?"

"Because I'm looking for my own Itachi." She simply answered, "Now if you'll excuse me."

"Is the man you're looking for Yuuma?"

* * *

**Author's Note:**


	4. Chapter Three: Hesitation

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Masashi Kishimoto does!

* * *

Everyone had turned around to the voice, Taiga's eyes had widened. It had been such a long time since she had seen those faces and she wasn't even sure how she should feel upon seeing them, "It's been a long time, Taiga."

Taiga had quickly used the back of her pointer finger to wipe a tear at the corner of her right eye. "Shi-senpai, Darui-senpai..." Both Kumogakure shinobi had slightly smiled as they stood with a few ninjas behind them.

Darui was tall, dark-skinned with shaggy, white hair that covered his left eye. He always wore such a lazy expression. Shi had short, blond hair and dark eyes. He was pale and wore a sleeveless black shirt with a one-strap-over-one shoulder like Darui. He had black-elbow length arm-guards while Darui had bandages on his wrist. "Sorry it's been so long."

Shaking her head, she had wore a very radiant smile. "You're still apologizing for everything? Its not your fault."

"Kakashi-sensei, these are Kumogakure shinobi?" Sakura questioned, the jounin nodded as an answer. "Taiga-san, are you from... Kumogakure?"

Her eyes had looked over towards the pink-haired kunoichi and gave a nod. "Kumogakure was my home before I left." She said simply

"So, Kumogakure is also looking for Yuuma?" Yamato had then asked.

Darui and Shi gave a nod, "He's from our country after all. We just heard recently that he was in this area. Raikage-sama told us to come here, and he also said to be on the lookout for Taiga."

The Raikage was looking for her? It figures. She was a missing-nin from Kumo and she had to be captured as well. "Are you taking me into custody?"

"That's what we're supposed to do." Shi had said, placing a hand on his hip. "But Raikage-sama said we should assist you."

Assist...her? Taiga's mouth was open in shock, surprised that he had taken such an action. "Looks like we'll have to work with Konohagakure." Darui then spoke up, "We're in the Land of Fire and he has caused trouble for a lot of people."

"Yes, Konoha shinobi were also killed by him." Yamato had said, "Which is the reason why we were put on this mission."

Darui nodded, "Then we should work comfortably together."

The Uzumaki had looked over towards Taiga, noticing her looking down at the ground in thought. "Uh, Taiga, is it?"

"What?" She said without turning to look at him.

"Why are you looking for Yuuma?" He had asked, Darui and Shi had looked at her to see how she would answer. Taiga hadn't said anything but instead walked ahead. "Hm..." He hummed.

Sakura then took the initiative, "Why is Taiga tracking down Yuuma?" She had asked Darui and Shi.

Both shinobi had looked at one another but Shi spoke instead, "He's caused a lot of grief in her life. It's not my business to tell what he has done and it's not your business to ask."

The kunoichi had nodded understandingly and then looked towards Taiga, who had gained some distance from them. "Well, we should be picking a place to stay. We'll be here for a while." Kakashi had said.

Naruto had then taken a few steps ahead, following in the same direction as Taiga had went. "I'll catch up with you guys later." He said to them before running in the direction she went. "Hey, Taiga."

"Just what does he think he's doing?" Yamato groaned, "He keeps trying to do things his own way."

"That's just how he is." Kakashi sighed, "But I'm sure he's just still curious of Taiga and Yuuma's relationship. I'm curious myself." His hands were buried in his pockets, his lone eye watching the two teenagers.

Sai had spoke up, "Maybe he's more curious about her relationship with Sasuke."

The Konoha shinobi had then nodded, agreeing with that notion.

Looking towards her right, Taiga had rolled her eyes. "What do you want?"

"You're pretty good with a sword," Naruto said, ignoring the hostility in her tone. "And it looks like Sasuke got good with one too."

Taiga had remained silent, not wanting to have a conversation with him. She didn't care what he had to say. He was just a nuisance.

"Heh, I guess you find me annoying too, huh?" He scratching he cheek nervously, giving her a toothy smile. Her eyes looked at the corners, observing his expression.

Both Sasuke and Naruto had such polar personalities that she wasn't sure if she could believe that they were in fact friends at one point. "What do you want?" She repeated, "If you're following me just to get on my nerves then leave me alone. I'm not in the mood for it."

His bright eyes had softened, he frowned as he had looked somewhat defeated. "I wanted to get to know you."

Her footsteps had ceased as did his. A eyebrow had rose in surprise, her eyes trying to see if he was trying to deceive her. "Get to know me why?"

"Well..." Naruto trailed, "You're Sasuke's friend so... A friend of Sasuke's should be a friend of mine."

Her eyes had widened, she had then closed her eyes and let out a sigh. "Sasuke and I aren't friends."

But you two seemed really close and—"

"Didn't Sasuke tell you he had only one bond? And that's the bond of hatred with Itachi." She interrupted him, and she could tell that her words had pained him.

After seeing how he was back in the hideout, she knew he wasn't going to give up. He was the persistent type. And she found that really annoying. "You just don't cut off bonds." The look on his face had shown how serious he was. "You can try to sever them, you can ignore them, but they are never really gone. I know Sasuke wants to focus on his hate for Itachi... But that doesn't mean I can accept him ignoring the bond that we had fought so hard to make. I'll never let that go and I'm sure Sasuke, even though he's unwilling to admit it, has really let it go as he claims"

What did he expect her to say? Did he want her to give him false hope? He was so sure in his beliefs that even if she tried to change his mind or proved him wrong, he would still believe in what he said. What purpose would there be? "Whatever." She said, unsure of what else to say.

"Taiga." He called her name again, but she didn't bother to stop walking. "Taiga, can we at least—"

"Can you leave me alone?" She finally snapped, spinning on her heel. "You just keep raging on and on about Sasuke and I don't want to hear it, alright? You and I will never be friends, so leave me alone!"

His mouth had formed a thin line, his eyes softening. The hurt on his face was clear and it made her uncomfortable. Why did he look do disappointed? Was he really trying? No, she couldn't feel guilty. He deserved it. He was annoying.

The blonde shinobi made no efforts to follow her, just continuing to stand in the place where she had left him. Taiga wasn't even sure where she was going, she didn't want to be surrounded by anyone. She needed solitude.

**o**O**o**

_The smell of rain was heavy in the air, filling her nostrils as she could feel the blood gushing out of the wound that was deep in her abdomen. Her small hand kept placing pressure, trying to stop the bleeding. She was shaking, her other hand over her mouth to muffle her cries._

_Why was this happening? What went wrong? Nothing seemed to make any sense._

_She had kept herself in the closet, seeing this as the only safe place due to what was happening outside. The shrill screams of those that have been attacked had ripped through the air, the sound of a blade meeting flesh coming before it. It sounded wet. Just the sound of it all made her want to vomit._

_Tears kept spilling out the corner of her eyes as she had looked at the closet door, hoping that they wouldn't open. The foot steps were slowly creeping closer to the room she was in, her heart felt like it was going to leap out of her chest. 'Please...' She begged in thought, 'Please don't come here. Don't find me—'_

_The closet door had immediately slid open, her eyes had slowly looked up at the figure before her. They looked to be just a shadow, their face completely masked in darkness. Before she could tear out a scream—_

Taiga jolted from the bed, her chest rising up and down rapidly as she had to fight to breathe, her heart pounding relentlessly. Her body was glistening from the thin sheet of sweat and her blankets were in a disarray from the constant thrashing, rolling, and fighting in her sleep. Her petite hands had slowly went to her face and massaged her temples as she had tried to wipe clean of the memory of her nightmares and tried to steady her breathing. It felt horrible to wake up like this but it would've felt even worse for the nightmare to resume.

Slowly, Taiga had slid her hands down form the sides of her face, letting them limply fall on the bed as she tilted her head back and briefly closed her eyes for a maximum of two minutes. Sitting there in silence would help her get back her composure. And the words of comfort she would mutter that had soothed her yet made her realize how much of wreck she was. Those words; it was basically a mantra, a mantra that meant she was safe and she didn't have to remember. "He's not here. He's not here. He's not here."

Once she got in her place of comfort, a sigh of relief had escaped her lips and she combed her slender fingers through her messy hair. She felt too awake to take herself back to sleep and she was also fearing that the nightmare might reoccur. Sometimes they would repeat themselves and other times they wouldn't, but she didn't feel like chancing it now and wanted to stay awake. Her fingers had stopped combing through her hair as she had felt a slight itch, she had slightly graze her fingernails in the area of the itch. "Ugh.." groaned Taiga as she had tilted her head forward and lightly hitting the side of her head with the palm of her right hand.

The door to her room had slid open, her eyes looking up to see that it was Shi. "Shi-senpai..." She muttered, "What are you—"

"I was just checking to see if you were awake." He had said, noticing the strange haze over her eyes. "Is everything alright?"

Taiga had stared in space for a few minutes before nodding her head, "Yeah... I'm fine."

Shi's eyes had squinted skeptically but he decided not to look further into it. "You should eat breakfast. Will you be eating by yourself or will you join Darui and I with the Konoha shinobi?"

"Why are you all eating together?" Taiga questioned.

"To gather information together to make the search easier. When you left, we had gone around the town asking for questions about Yuuma. We all received different answers and that's why we need to compile them together."

His answer made absolute sense. Taiga had sighed, "I'll join you all. Just give me a few minutes to get myself together."

"Are you sure you're alright?" He queried, "If you're not feeling well then—"

"Did I say I didn't feel well? Don't keep asking me." She was growing annoyed by his persistence. Shi's brows had knitted together and he had left the room, shutting the door shut behind him.

Standing up, she had curled her toes as she had tried to figure out how to fix her mood. The nightmare was leaving this heavy feeling on her shoulders and chest, she wanted to get some fresh air and to keep her distance from the rest but that wasn't going to work.

How did they expect her to want to team up with them? They were just going to get in the way. Yuuma was her kill, hers alone. Why should anyone place their hands in it?

There was no time to complain, however. She would have to get used to it if she ever even dreamed of seeing that man's face again with her sword embedded in him. Huffing, she had changed to her regular civilian clothes after a shower. Reluctantly leaving the room, she had walked towards the dining room down the hall and made a right after two doors down. At the end of the hall, it was the Uzumaki's room that he was sharing with the two instructors and Sai.

Lightly biting her cheek, she had walked in the room casually. "Good morning, Taiga!" His smile was bright, too bright for the morning. Taiga glanced at the blonde and looked away.

"Good morning..." She managed to mutter before sitting down between Shi and Darui. "Now..." she caught everyone's attention as she had split her chopsticks apart and picked up a piece of an omelet. "What did any of you find yesterday."

Yamato had knitted his brows, his arms folded. "Tch," he sucked his teeth as she had placed the cooked egg in her mouth, her eyes closed. "When did I sign up for taking orders from a bra—"

Before he could finish the sentence, his lips were squeezed shut by a pair of chopstick. Everyone was surprised by the quick notion, Taiga glaring at the man from the corner of her eyes. "Listen here," Her voice was in a very serious and no nonsense tone, "this is _**my**_ mission. Piss me off if you want to and you'll see if I'll play nice or not. Do not try me, you've been warned."

The leaf ninja were surprised by her actions while the Cloud ninjas were not. Shi continued to casually eat as if nothing had happened while Darui had sighed, "I apologize for Taiga-san's behavior." He then placed his hand lightly on the girl's arm, she had looked at him as he gave her a stare.

Releasing the shinobi's lips, she had continued to eat. Yamato looked dumbfounded, unable to believe that just transpired. Naruto withheld his laugh, sweat already beginning to bead down his face while Kakashi looked away to contain his. "Anyway," Sakura cleared her throat to shift the attention to her, "Sai-san and I found out that the man who is looking for Yuuma's name."

Taiga had rose a brow, her new pair of chopsticks lingering on her bottom lip as she had chewed her food. "What is it?" She asked, mouth still halfway full of food.

"His name is Ryuuji and he's a shinobi." Sakura continued, "We don't know what village he's from since he doesn't carry a headband but we can assume that he's a rogue since they claim he wonders around."

"He also appears to be a young man, in his late teens to early twenties." Sai added, "His physical features were repeatedly said to be of red eyes and white hair."

"He doesn't sound familiar." Taiga mumbled, swallowing down her food. "He probably has a good reason to be after him but violence isn't necessary."

"There's also a rumor that some people don't believe that the one who has been doing these vicious killings are Yuuma but someone else." Kakashi explained his information, "Which would mean either someone is working with Yuuma or using his name for publicity."

Taiga had shaken her head, "I won't be able to tell if I don't see the bodies"

Silence fell in the group. "What do you mean?" Sakura questioned, "Does Yuuma kill people...in a certain way?"

Taiga gave her a nod, "Yuuma is the most skilled swordsman I know. His blades make clean cuts, better than a surgeon with a scalpel. If the cuts aren't precise and clean-cut then I know it's not him. He also does quick kills unless he was intentionally going after that person then he wanted them to suffer."

Naruto's eyes had softened, looking at the girl with a cross of worry and curiosity. "Either way, we'll find this guy." She wasn't sure if he was trying to reassure her or the group.

"Either way, Yuuma is mine." Taiga made it clear once more, "Nobody is to touch him but me."

She had then placed her chopsticks down, standing from the table. "Where are you going?" Shi asked as she had walked towards the door.

Her eyes didn't leave the door, her fingers bawling up. "I'm going to the village that Yuuma supposedly slaughtered. I have to see the bodies for myself."

Naruto had quickly stood, "You can't go by yourself!"

"Exactly." Kakashi commented, "We'll go with you in case things get awry."

Clenching her teeth, she had opened the door. "I'm going by myself. I can take care of myself, I don't need any of you to babysit me."

"It's not about babysitting you!" Naruto yelled, "It's about you don't know what can happen. You can be ambushed!"

"And you think I won't be able to take care of myself? I've been taking care of myself for all my life, I don't need any idiot coming to my rescue!" Her eyes were ablaze as she and the Uzumaki locked eyes.

Yamato had sighed, "At least take one person with you."

"No." And with that, she had stepped out of the room and shut the door behind her before walking down the hall.

Naruto glared at the door, "Naruto." Kakashi had called him, "Keep tabs on her but keep your distance."

"I was going to do that anyway." The blond said with a smile, "What are you guys going to do?"

"Kakashi, Darui, and I are going to check out the neighboring villages while Yamato, Sakura, and Sai are going to keep an eye on this village." Shi explained, "That way they can handle whatever if something happens here."

Naruto nodded understandingly. "Good luck, Naruto." Sakura said, which surprised the blond shinobi.

He scratched his cheek as he appeared flustered, "Thank you, Sakura-chan."

He spun on his heels and ran, trying to make sure he caught up with Taiga but made sure she didn't sense him nearby. As he left the inn, he followed her towards the entrance of the village. Her sword was on her hip and her steps didn't seem as if she was in a rush, in fact he would say that she was moving quite reluctantly. Was she afraid of what she was going to see or was she wary?

The nearby village wasn't far but as she had taken the forest path, he had taken the branches of the nearby trees, making sure he was silent the whole while.

Before they had reached the village's gate, the smell of blood was thick in the air. The corpses had already taken on a foul stench, which made Naruto immediately cover his nose with his sleeve. His eyes had briefly looked towards Taiga, to see that she was braving the smell.

She had walked in without so much as pausing or gathering fresh air, his eyes widened upon the sight and it made him wonder if she too, had witnessed something like this before.

Taiga had looked around at the bodies all around, raging from children to adults. A flashback appeared before her eyes, the image of the corpses reminding her of what she had seen before. She had squeezed her eyes shut for a few seconds before opening them again, trying to remain strong in front of the sight before her.

Hesitantly, she had walked over towards a corpse and held her breath. Her eyes scanned over towards the wounds inflicted on them as she bended her knees to get a better look. Her eyes widened as the wound that was where the neck and shoulder had met. "Its...Its clean." Taiga muttered in shock.

The precise of the hit was so clear, she didn't have to check any of the other wounds. She knew this was Yuuma's handwork, she didn't have to second guess. Standing up, she had tilted her held back and took a deep breath.

"So, was it him?"

She knew he followed her, so it wasn't a surprise to hear his voice. She only wondered just how long it would take before he made his presence known. "Yeah, it was." Taiga had turned around, looking at the Konoha shinobi.

"How can you stand the smell?" He asked, his arm still covering his nose.

"Because I've been in a situation like this before." Taiga had walked towards what appeared to be a workshop, looking for something.

Naruto watched curiously as she had looked around. His eyes had softened when he noticed that she had picked up a shovel. She was going to bury the bodies of the villagers.

Naruto had ran over to the workshop to find a spare shovel, and when he had found one, he had began to dig graves for the villagers alongside her.

He decided not to speak so they could both concentrate on the task beforehand. Taiga's eyes briefly observed him, wondering why he decided to help. She wasn't sure if he was doing for her or out of the kindness of his own heart.

It didn't matter, there were still a lot of bodies and the more help, the merrier.

They remained silent and even helped each other lift bodies into the graves they had dug, even going as far to place flowers on the graves and giving them a silent prayer.

Now that their work was done, there was an awkward silence between them. "It's nice... that you did this for them." He murmured, not wanting the awkwardness to linger as he had tapped his feet against the ground.

Feeling as though being harsh to him wasn't appropriate after what he had done for her, she decided to be more cooperative. "They deserved to be buried. It's the least they deserve since I can't give them back what was taken from them."

He hadn't said anything but simply nodded, remaining silent for a few more minutes. "We should go back to Hisakawa village." He said, pointing over his shoulder.

Taiga had gave him an agreeing nod and they had walked together, leaving the empty village and taking the forest path. "The reason you want to find Yuuma is for revenge, isn't it?"

Her magenta colored eyes had glimpsed at him but then paid attention ahead. "Mm." She hummed. "It is revenge."

"You know," Her eyes had looked back at him, "revenge isn't everything."

"I'm living for my revenge. Without it, I have nothing to live for. I should've died years ago." Her sudden words shocked him, the Uzumaki had ceased to walk and she had took a few more steps before looking at him. "Every day is a day closer to my revenge, I can't live knowing he's alive. I can't live knowing that I did not kill him for what he has done."

Whatever Yuuma had done to Taiga must've been a seriously deep wound. The look in her eyes were cold, bilious. There was no changing her mind. "What did he do to you? Did he kill someone you loved?"

"Yuuma did more than kill someone I loved. He took my life, my world, and turn it into a nightmare." Her eyes had closed briefly, "He took everything."

Naruto for sure knew he wasn't going to get a straight answer from her but he wasn't sure if it was because it was too painful for her to explain the story or because she just didn't trust him with such vulnerable information. "What will you do after you've gotten vengeance?"

Her eyes had opened halfway, contemplating. "...I don't know, that's assuming I don't die in battle."

"You plan to die while fighting Yuuma?!" He bellowed, angry that she was going to throw her life away.

An eyebrow rose in confusion, wondering why he seemed so upset. "I thought it was obvious that I have no idea how to live my life. I live for the sole purpose of vengeance."

"There's more to life than just revenge!" Naruto had gripped her shoulders, shaking her slightly as if to snap her out of her thoughts. "You're an amazing swordswoman, and someone like you should continue to be a shinobi. Protect others, do good."

His eyes were locked on hers, not looking away; never breaking concentration. Taiga had glared back at him, not backing down or feeling like she wanted to take back what she said. "What am I supposed to do? Become an instructor? There are millions of others that are good with a sword, I'm no-"

Grabbing his waist, she had spun them around and had taken quite a heavy slash to her back. The kunoichi yelped in pain as Naruto's eyes had widened from seeing her blood spill. "Taiga!"

"I'm fine." She groaned, standing in front of him protectively and unsheathing her sword. "Who are you?! Come on out!"

A figure had appeared before them. It was a young man, either in his late teens or earlier twenties. His hair was a bright white, messy and pulled into a high ponytail. His eyes were a bright shade of red and slant, holding a mischievous essence about them. "You must be Ryuuji." Taiga had said, Naruto's eyes narrowing at the male.

"Hm, you've heard about me already? Shame." He sighed, "And here I thought I had the element of surprise."

Taiga was through talking, but yet was wincing at the pain from the wound on her back. "Naruto, stay out of it." She warned him first.

"You can't take him out with that wound!" He tried to interfere but when she had given him such a serious expression, which meant he couldn't talk her out of it, he bit his tongue and stayed put.

Her sword whipped through the air, a little more than a silvery blur. Ryuuji had caught each blow as best he could but a particularly powerful string from above was too much for his skill to counter, and he stumbled. "Wow, you're quite the strong one. How could I have underestimated?"

Shut the hell up!" Her foot connected with the center of Ryuuji's chest. There was a wet crunch as the kick connected, Ryuuji tumbled across the forest floor.

"Argh!" He coughed up, still in shock by her brutality as he gripped his chest with one hand and coughed blood.

Naruto was surprised by the girl's strength but he knew she was overexerting herself because she was going to weaken by the wound. "Where the hell is Yuuma?!"

The white-haired male's face was tight with pain, and the most he seemed able to manage were labored gasps and wet, tearing coughs. He was no longer in no condition to fight in just that short while.

When it came to Yuuma, Taiga was more than serious. "Taiga, your wound is getting worse. You have to get treated." Naruto warned, running over to her as he watched her legs buckle and she had fell to her knees, digging her fingers into the dirt. "Taiga!"

Her breathing was heavy, her eyes a bit hazy but she had blinked a couple of times to regain her vision. She had pointed her sword straight at Ryuuji, the tip of his blade pointed right at him. "Where the hell is Yuuma?!" She bellowed once again, shaking her head furiously. "I'm not letting him get away without an answer."

"I don't think he can get away if he wanted to right now." Naruto mumbled as he began to do a few handsigns. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" He said as he created a shadow clone, who had went over and slugged Ryuuji over his shoulder. "You need to be treated." He said to Taiga, bending his knees, "Climb on my back."

Her eyes narrowed as she was reluctant, but seeing how she couldn't afford to be stubborn, she sheathed her sword and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck as he had lifted her up, his hands at the back of her thighs as he began to run back towards the village. Taiga had squeezed her eyes shut, annoyed at how she had been so easily wounded.

It didn't take long before they reached Hisakawa village and Naruto had frantically searched for Sakura to heal both Taiga and Ryuuji. He ran down the village street, wondering where they were patrolling. When he caught a glimpse of pink hair, he leapted forward and landed in front of the kunoichi.

"Naruto? Taiga." She blinked twice, her green eyes trying to register what was before her.

"Taiga is wounded and we found Ryuuji, I need you to heal Taiga and heal Ryuuji enough so that he can speak. Taiga went a bit too far while trying to get information out of him." Sakura nodded.

"Let's get back to the inn." She said as they had began to run towards the place they were staying. When they made it inside, they had immediately ran towards the room the Uzumaki was occupying and placed Taiga down.

Naruto had watched, waiting for the medical-nin to begin her magic but something had felt off. Then, there was a cloud of smoke. Naruto noticing that Ryuuji had disappeared, proving that it was just a clone.

"Huh?!" He said, unsure of how that had slipped past him. Sakura had blinked twice, "That was just a clone?"

"He must've did a clone jutsu while I was focusing on Taiga." He grit his teeth, focusing back to Sakura. "Is she going to be alright?"

He noticed the frown on the pink-haired girl's face, the girl shaking her head. "We need to take her to Konoha immediately. It seems there was poison on the blade. It's curable, I've seen it before, but she can't stay here."

His eyes had shifted towards Taiga, knowing that she would be angry under these circumstances but they had no choice. She had to live first.

**o**O**o****  
**

Three weeks had passed by and today was the first day that Taiga had awoken. Her eyes immediately drunk up her surroundings, leading her to know that she was in a hospital. She had known for sure that her wound wasn't that serious, she had dealt with wounds like that before. Why did they have to send her to the hospital? And undoubtedly, far away from Hisakawa village.

The hospital doors had slid open, her eyes immediately looking towards who had came into her room. She figured that the first person she would be seeing so bright and early in the morning was Naruto himself. As he walked over to her bed, he had stopped upon knowing that she was awake. "Taiga!"

It was off-putting by how happy he was but she couldn't figure out the reasoning of why the corners of her mouth had lifted upward in a smile. "Its been three weeks since you've been awake."

That smile immediately turned into a frown. "Three weeks?!"

He nodded, "That Ryuuji guy poisoned you. That's why you're in Konoha, we had to get you to some place where you could properly be cured." He explained, she was no understanding why they had taken her here. "He also got away, he used a clone jutsu when I thought I captured him. It seems he left, I guess you gave him a scare." He cheesed with his hand rubbing the back of his neck.

Her mind then flashed the memories of how she had handled the swordsman, not too fond of the force and violence she used but her emotions had overrideded all thought at that very moment. "I was stupid."

"You were angry." He tried to justify her behavior, "Which was understandable."

He truly was annoying. "I guess I'm not leaving this place no time soon, huh?"

"Until Sakura-chan says you can." He nodded, "She wasn't expecting you to take such a long rest but she said it was your body catchin' up with you."

The doors had opened again, her eyes looking to see a rather unfamiliar face. It was a tall man with waist-length, spiky white hair that was tied back into a ponytail. His bangs were shoulder length that framed both sides of his face. There were red lines that ran down from his eyes and his forehead protector, the ninja headband, was horned with the word "Oil" written with Kanji on it.

He wore a green short shirt-like kimono and matching pants with hand guards, a black belt, geta, a red haori with two simple yellow circles on each side, and a scroll on his back. He was certainly a rather sight to see but she couldn't fanthom why he was here to see her. Naruto's eyes lit up when he looked at the man, which made her feel even more uneasy for one reason or another. "Ero-sennin."

...Did he just call that guy Ero-sennin? "So this is Taiga, the girl I've heard about." He said as he had walked over to her bed, her eyes dully looking up at him with faint aggravation and curiosity. "Nice to meet you, Taiga, I'm Jiraiya."

"Jiraiya?" She repeated his name, her eyes slightly widening. "One of the legendary sannin?!"

"That's me!" He pointed his thumb towards his chest, a smile on his face. "But just like you've heard a lot about me, I've heard a lot about you."

Her eyes looked away from the man and then to Naruto, "You've been talking about me?" It was all in playful irritation as she had rose an eyebrow.

The Uzumaki looked nervous, rubbing the back of his head bashfully. "I just told him that, uh, you were pretty good with a sword and all and we're on a mission together!"

Why did he sound like he was being interrogated? Did she really scare him? Taiga had looked back at Jiraiya with a small smile. "It really is an honor to meet you, Jiraiya-sama."

Naruto was surprised by her smile, his eyes widening a fraction. "How come when Ero-sennin is here, he gets treated nicely while I'm getting yelled or glared at?!" He asked, grumbling as his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Do you want to piss me off, Uzumaki?" She questioned, her smile faltering.

Jiraiya had chuckled, "You sure do befriend the hostile ones, don't you?" He teased his student, "How about when you're outta this place that we go get some ramen together? My treat!"

"Ramen?" Taiga repeated, wondering why he had chose it.

"All right!" Naruto beamed, throwing his fist in the air which made Taiga look at him skeptically. Why was her release was about getting food that he liked? What if she wanted dumplings? Instead of fussing, like she wanted to, she accepted it. It wasn't like everyday you eat lunch with a legendary sannin. Even though she was somewhat trained by one; Orochimaru.

"How does it sound?" Jiraiya asked her.

She gave him a nod, "I'll be looking forward to it."

The door had opened once again except two figures had stepped in. One was Sakura and the other was a woman with brown eyes and straight, blonde hair. Her was waist-length like the sannin next to her bed with shoulder-length bangs framing both sides of her face as well. Her hair was styled in two-loose ponytails. There was a diamond shaped mark on her forehead, which seemed to stand out the most.

Her outfit consisted of a green haori, a shade of green that reminded one of grass with a grey, kimono-like shirt with no sleeves and a broad, dark bluish-grey obi that matched her pants. Another notable thing about the woman was her large breast and revealing cleavage, which made Taiga look down at her own and feel inadequate despite having a large bust of her own, but it was nothing compared to the woman's.

"Granny Tsunade!" The blonde had said happily as Taiga blinked twice. Tsunade? Tsunade... She thought she could recall Sasuke briefly mentioning her, but then again, she wasn't sure.

"How are you feeling?" The woman had asked, placing her hand on her forehead to check for any signs of a fever.

Taiga sighed, "I feel well-rested but there's a slight sore on my back. Did it leave a scar?"

The woman shook her head, "Since it was taken cared of right away, no there's no scar." She said, her pink lipstick covered lips had smiled.

"It's thanks to Sakura-san." Taiga had said, the pink-haired kunoichi giving a small smile. "And Naruto." Her eyes had shifted towards him as he had rubbed the back of his head shyly once more.

"Naruto told us what happened." Tsunade had sighed, "I didn't figure it would be easy but he's been quiet, that Ryuuji that is. The village is protected due to us putting several ninjas there and spying for anything suspicious."

"No signs of Ryuuji?" Taiga questioned, Sakura and Tsunade had both shaken their heads. "He'll be back soon, he probably needs to recover."

The woman chuckled, making Taiga look at her in surprise. "Naruto told us what you did to him. I say atta girl."

The Kumo kunoichi had chuckled, "I really didn't mean to do all of that, I was just angry."

"The Raikage told me all about Yuuma, you have every right to be." Naruto and Sakura had looked at Tsunade, surprised that she knew Taiga's past.

Her magenta eyes had softened as the blonde-haired woman had placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder, trying to ease her and let her know that her pain was justified. "Thank you..." She muttered, the woman nodded.

"I think Taiga needs a little more rest and space." Tsunade told them all, "Sakura will be back to check on you periodically."

Taiga nodded as Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Sakura had left first. Naruto had lingered a little bit longer, Taiga had sighed. "I guess it's only fair to tell you why chasing Yuuma means my entire life."

Her words had caught him off guard, his eyes immediately looking over to her in surprise. "Taiga if you feel uncomfortable then—"

"The reason why I didn't tell you at first is because I didn't trust you." Taiga interrupted, "But because you're helping me look for him, and not out of your own gain, I think it's fine that you know."

* * *

**Author's Note:**


	5. Chapter Four: Trust and Ramen

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Masashi Kishimoto does!

* * *

Anxious about the story, he had sat at the edge of the bed as her hands had rested on her lap. Taiga had looked out the window, seeing children rip and run down the streets of the foreign village. Her eyes glistened upon the sight of them but the haze over them became much more serious when she glanced over to Naruto. "I was eleven when Yuuma infiltrated our clan's territory. In Kumogakure, our clan, the Sanemori clan, was known for their swordsmanship. We trained the best samurais and the best shinobi. We also crafted remarkable swords."

Naruto remained seated, his gaze fixed on her as he completely listened to her story., "Yuuma was supposed to be head of the clan, my grandfather was the leader of the clan at the time and my mother his daughter but my grandfather did not think he deserved that responsibility. He said Yuuma was uncooperative and too self-absorbed. And so the rivalry ensued between them for years."

"Finally, Yuuma decided to take matters in his own hands. He knew he was going to be tossed out of the clan for his decisions were reckless and his swords too dangerous." Taiga closed her eyes, "And he was withholding a secret over my grandfather."

"A secret?" Naruto repeated, "What secret was that?"

"My mother was having a long affair with Yuuma, already married to another man due to it being an arranged marriage. She had fell in love with Yuuma despite the odds." She sighed, "And out of that affair, I was born out of it."

There was no words to describe the shock on Naruto's face, his eyes nearly bulging out of their sockets as she had hit that revelation on him, not even holding back a punch. "W-What?!"

She nodded, confirming what she said was true. "That's right," She continued, sighing. "Yuuma is my father, and my father had slaughtered the family clan because he felt he was treated unfairly; my mother would not leave her husband, and it seemed like all of the Sanemori turned their backs on him. I didn't even know he was my father and I believe he doesn't even know that I am his child."

He didn't know what to do. In a way, he wanted to comfort her but how does someone comfort someone after being told that? And the last thing she probably wanted was pity, but she knew that he would pity her anyway. "But how do you know?"

"A week before his attack, my mother had written a confession letter to Yuuma. She had been writing to him whenever she couldn't see him, and she told him the truth but the letter never made it." She explained, "But it doesn't justify how he killed so many innocent lives and he tried to kill me as if it was my fault for how poorly he was treated. And he made my mother suffer the most."

"He made me watch her die." Naruto heard her mutter, "Right after he stabbed me, I was supposed to bleed to death as he tortured her. How I made it? I don't even know." She had shaken her head, "I just know I crawled out of there and that's when Orochimaru-sama found me. He took care of me and gave me a place to temporarily call home."

Naruto had looked down, soaking it all in. "And that's when I met Sasuke." Naruto had rose his head, surprised. "He comforted me, very subtlety but it was out of empathy."

"Sasuke also watched his clan be slaughtered by his own brother..." The Uzumaki sighed, "He knew your pain more than anyone else."

"Mm." She nodded, "I'm the one who made Sasuke's sword, Kusanagi." She smiled at the thought, "I made it for him as a thanks and because he asked me if I could."

"You can make swords?!" He said, surprised. "You should make me one!"

The girl scoffed, "You don't even know how to use one. Are you even good with a kunai?"

"Hell yeah!" He roared happily, "I'm totally good with a kunai! We should match one day, your sword and my kunai! And if I prove to you how good I am, you have to make me a sword and give me lessons."

"Make you a sword and give you lessons? Tch, you're sure asking for a lot." Her arms had folded under her bust, a small smile appearing on her face. "But fine, I'll take you up on that offer."

"All right!" The blond had cheered happily, "But first, you have to get a tour of the village before you eat some ramen, y'know."

Her eyes had left the Uzumaki and looked out the window, "A tour of the village? You act like I'm a guest. I'm sure if people knew I worked under Orochimaru-sama, they wouldn't think too fondly of me."

"I never took you for someone who cared about what other people said." His words had definitely surprised her, her eyes had immediately looked back at him as he sported a teasing grin.

"I don't!" Taiga said defensively, "I just don't like troublesome situations."

"Nobody would know that you worked under Orochimaru except me, Sakura-chan, Sai, Kakashi-sensei, Captain Yamato, and Granny Tsunade." Naruto said as he counted with his fingers, "And Ero-sennin."

That was true and it wasn't like the Hokage would want that information leaked anyway. "You have a point." She sighed, nodding her head.

"Taiga" He called her name, causing her to focused her eyes on him. "Did you really respect Orochimaru?"

Taiga figured he was confused by the way she said his name in a highly fashion, but she couldn't blame him. "I did." Naruto hadn't said anything afterwards but he nodded his head understandingly. "But I was more so grateful to him than I like him, if that's what you're wondering."

The confusion in his blue eyes had vanished, which meant he completely understood. At least there was no misunderstanding there, and she didn't have to dig deep or come up with explanations why. "You should get some rest."

With a nod, the kunoichi laid down on the bed. "Practice with your kunai." She had said as he had just touched the sliding door's handle, ready to slide it open.

He had grinned a her words, "Heh, I don't even have to train."

As the door shut behind him, Taiga's smirk still hadn't left. "Show off."

**o**O**o**

It had been a week since Sakura had given the o.k. that Taiga could be released. The former lightning kunoichi had spent most of the morning training, trying to get her body back in shape after spending so much time resting. She had taken a jog at what Sakura showed her was the training field. After her jog, she would stop to do stretches and push ups as well as Taijutsu. "She's pretty diligent, isn't she?" Sakura said to Sai, who was sitting beside her underneath a tree.

"I don't think she's used to bed rest. I'm pretty sure if the hospital's security wasn't tight, she would've escaped." Sai said, his eyes observing the young woman as well.

The pink-haired female next to him had looked at him briefly, considering his words. "I suppose you're right." She had then pushed her knees to her chest, "Where is Naruto anyway? Why am I even asking? He's probably still sleeping. It is early in the morning."

"Did you really expect for Naruto to be up in such early hours of the morning?" asked Sai, the girl frowning.

"I did catch myself, didn't I?" She said irritably before she had noticed something zip by. "What was that?"

Taiga had came to a halt and did a high kick to her right, barely hitting whatever she felt come near. Her foot barely touched the boy's pale face as he had given her a confident smile. "Who the hell are you?"

A boy with shiny and black, bowl-cut style hair had now stood in front of her. He had relatively thick, black eyebrow and large, round black eyes. He wore a green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers, his forehead protector was more like a belt and a shade of red. Around his wrist were bandages. "My name is Rock Lee." He introduced himself, "Rarely do I see someone do such vigorous training and I was interested."

Taiga's face had fell, her eyes drooping in a nonchalant manner with her hands now folded. "Please take your interest somewhere else. I've been bedridden for four weeks and I need to get myself exercised."

"I have no qualms in stopping you, definitely not!" He raised a hand in defense, "I simply wanted to join you and perhaps in enhance such exercise and dedication to fitness!"

He was already irritating her and they had just met. Did every male in Konoha have a irritating attitude or did they just always start off rubbing her the wrong way? "Well look who is here! My youthful student and also, another flower blossoming in youth!"

Dear God, why?

Her eyes had looked left to see what appeared to be an older and tanner version of Lee, sporting the same hair, outfit, and eyebrows. "And who are you?"

"Maito Gai!" The man pointed to himself, his thumb to his chest and for a second she thought she saw a sparkle as he showed off his pearly whites in such a wide and beaming smile. "And you are?"

"A person who wants to continue training without getting interrupted." Taiga knew she was being disrespectful to her superior but she did not wake up early in the morning for this.

"Uh oh, what do you think is going on over there?" Sakura asked the pale artist to her right, who was busying painting on his small canvas. He had lost interest in everything a while ago. "Sai!" She said, wanting to gain his attention.

The boy briefly looked away from looked away from his unfinished art, looking at Sakura and then a the trio. "I think you know what is going over there, Sakura-san. Lee always wants a challenge."

Taiga slapped her palm to her forehead, already growing annoyed by their strange bantering of spring and youth. "Look, I want to train by myself and on my own schedule. This is how samurai train, okay?"

"Samurai? So you're not a ninja?" Lee questioned, obviously curious.

"I'm a ninja but.. I practice samurai kenjutsu." She explained, "And to build up my arm strength, I have to train as such."

Lee was now amazed, as well as Gai. "I never seen samurai training. Please, show us how it is that samurai train. It could go into my training schedule and help build muscles I never worked on before!"

Rubbing her temples, Taiga contemplated on actually showing them or just running away. Who was to say they wouldn't follow her? "Taiga." Her eyes had looked over to see Naruto approaching them, Sakura and Sai right behind him. "What are you doing out here?"

"I wanted to get some training in after spending so long in the hospital." She had raised her arms over her shoulder, stretching them and then letting them fall to her sides. "But these two guys are in my way."

"Bushy brow and bushier brow-sensei?" He looked at them and then at Taiga, "They are really good when it comes to body training, I guess they wanted to help."

The kunoichi had glowered at him, Lee, and Gai. "I didn't ask for help." She had pushed past them, walking forward.

"Something tells me she's not the friendly type." Gai had said, his hands on his hips as he had looked down at Naruto.

The Uzumaki wasn't sure how to respond but he looked up at the eccentric man, "She's just not in the right mood for it. She's very serious when it comes to training and I think she prefers to do it by herself."

"Solitude, huh? Like Kakashi and Neji." He hummed, "Lee, we oughta give her some space. Maybe she'll warm up to our help soon."

"Alright, Gai-sensei!" Lee gave his teacher a thumbs up while Naruto had followed after Taiga, who was diligently doing one-hand push-ups.

It had been a long time since he saw a girl out here doing these type of workouts. She was entirely focused on the task beforehand, not even bothering to acknowledge that he was there.

"What do you want, Uzumaki?" Taiga voice surprised him, he immediately blinked twice and then rubbed the back of his head. "I on purposely came out here early to avoid everyone. I thought I wasn't going to see you until we eat lunch with Jiraiya-sama."

He didn't know how to explain why he had seen her before the time they were supposed to without it sounding like he felt a bit excited, which made him unable to sleep as much as he usually did. "Uh..."

"Doesn't matter." The kunoichi sighed as she continued with her push-ups, now using only her right arm. "I'll be done by lunch time."

"You're going to be out here for five hours?!" He queried, surprised that she was willing to go that far.

"Mhm, and then I'll shower at the hospital." Taiga said as continued her workout, "For the meantime, why don't you go find something to do instead of breathing down my neck while I'm trying to concentrate?"

Naruto wasn't fond of leaving just yet and that's when he decided on something else. "Weren't you supposed to fight me to see if I was worth making a sword for?" Taking a kunai out of his ninja pouch, he twirled it around his pointer finger before gripping its handle.

Taiga had paused and looked up at him, her face deadpanned. "You sure know how to piss me off, don't you?" The ninja continued to grin and it grew in size when she had stood, dusting her hands off. "Alright, fine."

"All right!" The boy cheered as she had walked over to her katana, placing it in it's belt before walking back over and standing a few feet away from him.

Taiga had tightened her grip on Honjo Masamune's handle and as soon as Naruto took the initiative to head her way, she had tossed the unsheathed sword into the air and twirled behind the blonde, catching the sword and pointed it right in the center of the red swirl on the Uzumaki's back. His eyes had widened in surprise as Taiga had grinned, "We just started and you're already losing."

Naruto had spun around, growling as he was frustrated with himself and jumped back before charging again. Taiga had followed suit, lifting herself off the ground and jumping over the kunai as Naruto swung it.

He missed again.

He twirled around to face her again and sped forward, and she engaged him to clash metals. Her sword had met his kunai, both of them struggling to overpower the other. Naruto knew she wasn't at her full strength and she knew he was being lenient due to her condition.

A crowd had grew, Sakura and Sai were joined by Lee and Gai as well as Neji, TenTen, Kakashi, and Yamato. They had watched them in this battle for what? They didn't know.

Taiga had flipped over Naruto, who attempted to shove his kunai towards her back but she had blocked the attack and pushed him away, causing him to stumble back a few steps. "Now you're showing me what you're made of." Taiga commented as he had grinned.

They had went back into heated battle, Naruto managing to block each of Taiga's trikes while stepping back, keeping up his defense since she took every opening no matter how small. Taiga slashed repeatedly, continuing to push him back. When her sword and his kunai had met again, sparks had flew in the air and his kunai was thrown from his hands. Naruto was surprised, looking down at his hand and then at the kunai in the ground.

"I hope you didn't expect that a kunai would be half as good as you thought against my sword's caliber. If you had a sword then the battle would've still continued." Taiga had said as she quickly sheathed her katana. "But you showed promise and so, I'll make you a sword."

The crowd showed surprise at her words. "You want a sword?" Sakura asked Naruto, who had was smiling as he picked up his kunai.

"Yeah!" He said as he placed the weapon back in his pouch. "I thought Kenjutsu could be my style, dattebayo." He rubbed the back of his head, "And Taiga thinks I'll be good with one too."

"I'll be amazed if you're disciplined enough for one." He had looked at his right to see Jiraiya walking forward, smiling as his arms were folded. "Though not all great kenjutsu user focused on discipline."

"Discipline?" Gai had repeated, "Then Lee would be great for a sword, wouldn't he?"

Lee had then shoved a determined fist in the air, "I may not be good at Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, and my only strength is Taijutsu, but knowing how to use a sword is a possibility for someone such as I."

"At this rate, I might as well have my own dojo." Taiga said as she had massaged her right arm. "And I ain't the one to be anybody's teacher."

Tenten then spoke up, "If Lee wanted to know how to use a weapon, he could've asked me." She said as she then looked at Taiga, "You and I should have a match one day."

"I wouldn't mind it." The girl had looked at Naruto and Jiraiya, "I'm going to shower so we can have lunch. And during so, we'll discuss about that sword I'll be making of yours, Naruto-san." She had turned around and left.

"Taiga really is a strong swordsman." Sakura commented, "It makes me wonder how her ninjutsu is."

Neji had hummed in thought, "I'm also curious and as of her Taijutsu. Most samurai are taught how to fight without using a sword."

"To be so young and that proficient with a sword..." Kakashi had said as Yamato had looked at him.

"She must've trained like hell." Yamato said, "Like most avengers do."

Naruto and Sakura had looked down. The word avenger had reminded them of Sasuke. "Do you think those that seek revenge do actually grow stronger than those that don't?" Sakura questioned.

Jiraiya had looked at the young, pink-haired kunoichi. "It depends on where their heart is. If they haven't let darkness consumed them then their fixation is on a steady path, and I do believe in that path you grow stronger in strength and stronger in mind. If you fall in darkness, who is to say you won't become so powerful that you won't destroy yourself?"

Kakashi's thoughts had also then centered around Sasuke and caused his lone eye to look at Naruto and Sakura, wondering if they were thinking about the Uchiha as well.

Naruto and Jiraiya had waited patiently for Taiga to return and she had sporting her traditional ninja wear and not the clothes she wore in Hisakawa village. Jiraiya had averted his gaze, more so for himself. 'Why must she wear such provocative clothing? That outfit is skin tight!' He thought to himself.

"That's your clan symbol?" Jiraiya's thoughts had ceased as he looked to the teenagers as the blond pointed at the girl's back. On her back was a white, bolded chrysanthemum.

"Yeah." Taiga answered, "Why?"

"No, I was just asking." He simply said, "Now to Ichiraku!" He grinned as the two had walked, leaving the training fields.

It had been a long time since she was in a ninja village. The sound of upbecoming ninjas making plans and talking to their peers and teachers as the civilian children playing and laughing as well. In a sense, she was filled with nostalgia of Kumogakure.

"What kind of ramen should I get? Hmmm." Naruto hummed in thought while Jiraiya decided to engage in conversation with Taiga.

"So, who trained ya in Kenjutsu?" He questioned as she had looked up at the sannin and then looked ahead as she formed a reply

"My teacher was Minamoto Yoshitsune." She answered, "Have you heard of him?"

"He's one of the greatest samurai to have ever lived." Jiraiya said, surprised. "Man, the man rarely trains anyone. He's known for turning numerous people away, and he trained you?"

Taiga nodded, "He trained me even after I followed Orochimaru, he continued training me because he said that I possessed the heart of a warrior. Despite the fact I could never answer the question."

"The question?" Jiraiya rose a brow.

"Every year on my birthday he would ask me, 'What is most important to the heart of a warrior?' And every time I tried to come up with an answer, he said I was wrong." Taiga had lowered her head, "I never understood how he said I possessed that heart but I did not know what was most important."

Jiraiya had smiled and placed his hand atop of the girl's head. "That means you do not know what's most important to your heart yet. For now, you believe it is revenge when it might be something else. You can't see it clearly yet."

Naruto listened on to their conversation, looking at Jiraiya who seemed to be warming up very easily to the former Kumo kunoichi. "Maybe you're right." Taiga replied, "I really don't know what's most important in my heart but it doesn't matter. Yuuma's head is what is most important to me."

When they made it to the ramen stand, Jiraiya had sat in the far left end, Naruto in the middle between Jiraiya and Taiga. Her eyes had curiously looked around and then looked to the shop owner who had smiled at the two. "Jiraiya-sama, Naruto! Good to see ya two, oh! And you brought someone new."

Taiga had bowed her head respectfully, "Taiga."

"Taiga, eh? What an interesting name." He said as Naruto kept a bright grin.

"Now can I get a large serving of miso ramen with roasted pork fillet?" He said as he then looked to Taiga, "And get one for her too! It's the best, dattebayo!"

Jiraiya had watched the girl look at Naruto skeptically, raising a brow before looking back at Ichiraku. "Make it three." Jiraiya rose three fingers, Teuchi and his daughter, Ayame, had worked very diligently on making their meals.

As they waited, Taiga had looked at the Uzumaki who seemed a bit anxious for his bowl of food. Her eyes softened as she had gazed at him. 'Its still impossible for me to believe that he and Sasuke were friends. I wonder... How they interacted with each other.' She had snorted at the thought, causing Naruto to look at her.

"Huh? What's got ya laughing?" He asked with his eyes squinted, wondering if she was laughing at him for some reason.

"Nothing. Just something stupid." She had closed her eyes but opened them when she heard the sound of porcelain bowls being placed in front of them, the smell of the ramen wafting in her nostrils. She had opened her eyes and was surprised by the large amount but she did have to admit that it looked appetizing.

"Itadakimasu!" Naruto chimed happily as he broke his chopsticks apart while Jiraiya said it boisterously as well while Taiga said it in a more reserved manner.

Once she had picked up some of the noodles with her chopsticks, she had slurped it up with ease but regretted it due to how hot the noodles still were. The feeling was then washed over with the full flavor of the miso ramen, which she made her tastebuds tingle.

It was actually really good.

Naruto peeked over at the kunoichi to watch her eat it rather quickly, his eyes blinking a few times with a mouthful of food. Jiraiya, Teuchi, and Ayame had watched in surprised as she quickly ate her food.

"That hospital food didn't do anything for ya, did it?" Jiraiya said, chuckling as Taiga quickly noted that all eyes were on her but it didn't matter to her. She had lifted the bowl and tilted her head back slightly to drink up what was left, and sighed happily when she placed the empty bowl down.

Naruto began to quickly chow down his food and then placed his empty bowl down as well. "Another bowl!"

Taiga had then raised her hand, "Another bowl for me as well."

Jiraiya's face had become sour, knowing he was going to be paying for all of this.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry it took me so long to pull this chapter out.

Hopefully, the next one will be longer.


	6. Chapter Five: Building Blocks

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Masashi Kishimoto does!

* * *

Lunch with Jiraiya and Naruto proved to be more entertaining than Taiga expected. Hearing their crazy stories when and when they hadn't traveled together was amusing, leaving her surprised and intrigued at the same time. Whenever Naruto's past was brought up, it was brought up with precaution. She got the gist that Naruto had struggled, very much so in the past. And in a way it reminded her of the conversation with Sasuke a long time ago.

**Flashback**

_"Sasuke-kun, do you believe in a friendship that can overpower everything?" Taiga asked the Uchiha. They were both sent on a mission to send a letter to a person in Kirigakure under Orochimaru's orders. _

_They had to been at least thirteen and fourteen at the time and Sasuke had acted as leader on the mission despite Taiga's disapproval. "Why are you asking me this suddenly?" _

_"I'm just curious as to how you feel about it." She answered truthfully, shrugging her shoulders. "You, Sui-kun, and Karin-chan are the only friends I have." _

_"It's not important to me so there was no sense in bothering asking." Taiga had frowned but she realized she should've known he would've answered so nonchalantly. Sasuke barely cared about anything sentimental._

_Tilting her head back, she had looked up at the night sky above them as they had walked through the forest. "Yoshitsune-sensei would constantly tell me, 'You will know your true friends when sick or distressed. If one you thought was your friend keeps his distance from you during trying times then he should be considered a coward.' That's why I was curious." explained the kunoichi, her eyes then looking forward at Sasuke who continued on._

_"Is friendship really that important to you?" His question had caused her to slow down in steps and then eventually stop walking. _

_"Is friendship really not that important to you?" She questioned back, he also continued to stop walking. _

_He looked over his shoulder, his eyes staring down at the ground. "It was once important and now its not." _

_"So what does that makes us?" Taiga asked, "Are we not friends?"_

_Silence had lingered on for a few minutes and Sasuke continued to walk without so much as saying another word. Her eyes had lowered, a frown on her face as she had slowly followed behind him. _

_"I don't want to see anyone else die." Her eyes had immediately fled to him. "So it's best not to be friends with anyone. We don't live in that world where we can blindly believe in happiness. The shinobi world is not built like that."_

**End Flashback**

All Naruto mentioned was his bonds; his friends. That's why that memory had resurfaced on her mind and weighed heavily on her. 'I don't want to see anyone else die.' In a way, she felt like that was why she distanced herself from others despite growing an attachment to Sasuke, Karin, and Suigetsu. They would always be her friends, no matter what.

"Taiga-san." Everyone had looked behind them to see Kakashi standing, one hand raised to signify a hello.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto blinked twice, "What do you need Taiga for?"

"Tsunade-sama would like to see Taiga-san in her office. It has something to do with Yuuma." Taiga had immediately jumped down from the chair-stool, walking towards the infamous copy ninja.

"Let's go." There was no convincing Taiga from not going, she had to know what anything related to Yuuma was needed for her to know.

Naruto had immediately got to his feet as well. "I'll come too!"

Kakashi had looked towards his student, knowing very well that there was no convincing him otherwise. "Jiraiya-sama, will you be joining us?"

The Gallant had looked towards them all, Taiga and Naruto's eyes on his form with question. He looked at the three over and then looked to Taiga, "If the young lady thinks I benefit in going."

Did he really care if she wanted him to go or not? Did he respect how important capturing Yuuma was to her? "Jiraiya-sama, I think you know I respect you and so if you can be of any help then I don't mind."

Naruto and Kakashi were shocked, Naruto's shock more evident on his face. "H-Hey! When I wanted to help, you literally shoved me away!"

Taiga had folded her arms. "Are you a legendary sannin? No. You're just some pesky, knuckle-head who forces himself in other people's business."

The blond had narrowed his eyes, offended by her words. "But I helped, didn't I?!"

"Never said you didn't." Taiga had then looked to Kakashi, "We shouldn't keep the Hokage waiting."

Naruto wasn't going to let it go, he had complained the whole time during their walk towards the Hokage's office. It didn't bother Taiga since she had eventually tuned him out.

When they were finally in the woman's office, they had stood in front of her desk and awaited for her announcement. She had finished writing up the last bit of her current paperwork before raising her head at the four of them. "We have some news about Yuuma."

Taiga had looked at the woman with anticipation, her hands steadily at her sides. "Was he seen?"

"No, but we can officially declare Ryuuji as his subordinate." Tsunade had said as she had folded her hands. "In another village, Ryuuji had announced all that come for Yuuma, his leader, will be killed."

"So that means Ryuuji works under Yuuma, but there might a speculation that there could be others?" Kakashi had questioned, in which Tsunade had nodded.

Taiga had chewed on her bottom lip in thought, "Why does he need people working under him? What is the point? He's been working by himself for so long that it doesn't make any sense that he would need Ryuuji."

"He might have a goal." Jiraiya rubbed his chin, "You don't think he has a vendetta on a large village?"

"The only village I could envision him hating is Kumogakure, but even then I'm not sure why. He killed everyone in our clan, I'm the only one left. Unless, there are some people that escaped and I don't know." Taiga sighed, growing frustrated that she couldn't put the pieces together.

"Whatever it is, it's a problem." Kakashi added, "And we need to hurry up and find out."

Naruto had looked to Taiga, seeing her hands curl up into fists. His frowned had deepen as he then looked towards Tsunade, "Should we go to Taiga's old home and look for clues? Maybe there's something left behind that could help us."

"Is it still in one piece?" Tsunade questioned Taiga, who had nodded her head.

"He didn't destroy anything, like the buildings and what not. The last I heard, Raikage-sama had kept it restricted." She said, "But I think Naruto is right, there might be something there that could help us know what he is up to."

"Are you sure you're up for that?" Taiga had lowered her gaze before closing her eyes, "It'll be difficult going back after all that has happened there."

"I'll be fine." Taiga immediately said, "I'm not going to run away from it."

Tsunade had observed Taiga for a few minutes, a silence lingering in the office as she was trying to determine if it was the right thing and if Taiga was emotionally strong for it. The young kunoichi had kept a rather determined expression, posing as if she was not going to back down. "I'll write the Raikage a letter stating you'll be coming to do an investigation. And if it is alright for me to allow Konohagakure shinobi to join you."

"Who will be joining me?" Taiga asked. "I would like Naruto to stay on this case with you. If anything is to go awry, I want him there with you." said Tsunade, "Although, we have to remember that the Akatsuki are still looking for you Naruto, your safety is our priority and this is an s-rank mission. Yuuma is not a small time threat."

"If that's the case then you should make this a Team Seven mission." Kakashi had said, "If we were to encounter him then we will need Sakura."

The Hokage had hummed. "I'm asking for a lot by Naruto go and I'm not sure if increasing the group will make things better. I'm sure he will like his own ninja in assistance like he did in Hisakawa village."

"If you tell the Raikage-sama that I'm comfortable with Team Seven then I am sure he'll allow it. Raikage-sama knows me very well." She wasn't sure if that was much of a help but she was beginning to understand that flying solo while going after Yuuma was not going to work anymore.

"Very well then." said Tsunade, "I'll write him a letter and you'll leave in three days. Until then, I suggest you save up your energy. Anything could happen."

Taiga had bowed deeply, "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"Alright, you're all dismissed." The blonde had looked to her right at Shizune, who was standing beside her desk with TonTon in her arms. "Give me the next batch of paperwork so I can get this over with."

Taiga and Naruto had both left the office with Jiraiya and Kakashi behind them. "I'm going to report to Sakura and Sai about the mission." He said them before disappearing.

"Looks like you have a very exciting mission ahead of ya, Naruto." Jiraiya had said as both teenagers had looked to him. "You sure you gonna be alright, Taiga?"

Grabbing a handful of her hair, she had looked in thought for a few minutes before letting it go. "I'll be fine. I'll finally get that bastard after all these years." She said, "That's all that really matters."

"I know you want vengeance but don't lose yourself in it." His piece of advice had stayed with her and she had closed her eyes briefly. "If you lose yourself in it, you might not find a way out."

This was advice from Jiraiya, a legendary sannin, but it was also advice from someone who cared. Typically Taiga would've dismissed it, saying she knew that already but since she respected him greatly she just nodded understandingly.

"Well, I'll be seeing you kids later. I have some business to attend to myself." He had begun to walk down the hall, both of them looking at the direction he was leaving.

"See ya, Ero-sennin." Naruto waved as Jiraiya had did a small wave as he continued walking forward.

Taiga had began to walk towards the exit herself, Naruto had ran up and caught up with her. "Where are you going?"

"To find a place to stay for three days." She answered honestly, "I can't stay at the hospital and hell, I don't know if I can afford a hotel."

"Oh! Then you should stay at my place then! I mean, it's not really big but it's—"

Taiga stopped walking and rose a brow, "And what do I look like staying with you, Uzumaki?"

Naruto began to give an uneasy, toothy grin and scratched his cheek. "Well, you don't have a place to go and I can't afford you a hotel either. I mean, it was a silly suggestion but I guess one of the girls could help you with that."

"The only girl I've met so far is Sakura-san, and there was that one girl at the training field." She said, her hand on her hip. "I guess Sakura-san is my only hope."

"Well, I'll show you where Sakura-chan lives." He had said as Taiga nodded and then continued their way out of the Hokage office. Now that they were in the busy village, she was able to look around to see just how big it was.

He was itching to talk to fill the silence between them but he didn't want to say anything to set her off again. He thought they were off to a good start but she had kept her guard up again once more. It was better than a few weeks ago, but the progress was incredibly slow again. "Uh, Taiga?"

"Yeah?" She said, looking at him. "What is it?"

Before she knew it, her back was pressed to the ground and there was something pinning her arms down. One eye was open as she had felt something wet go up from her cheek and up her face. "W-What the hell?!" She had screamed until she had noticed that there was a large dog on top of her.

"Akamaru!" She heard a boy yell, the dog had temporarily stopped licking her and she looked over to who was probably his owner. "C'mon, let her go." He said as Naruto knelt down and helped her up as she had wiped her face from the dog's saliva.

In front of her was a boy that was wearing a black jacket that fitted his form with zippers over the chest and sleeves. He had matching black pants to match with sandals that also had zippers to coordinate with his jacket. His hair was short, his skin tanned, and messy brown hair. His eyes were definitely noticeable due to them being slit-like and black but what stood out the most was his red markings on his cheeks.

"Sorry about Akamaru, but I think you have somethin' on ya that really captured his attention. He usually doesn't pounce on strangers like that." The boy had said as he had rubbed atop of the canine's head.

Even though she was annoyed, she couldn't necessarily blame the boy for his dog's actions. "Yeah..." she merely mumbled as Naruto blinked a few times.

"Oh, Naruto, I didn't see ya there." Kiba said, showing off his fang-like teeth.

"Nice seein' ya too, Kiba." Naruto replied as two other people had walked up behind Kiba. There was a boy and a girl; the boy had wore a green jacket that went past his knees and the hood obstructed his face as well as the color of his clothes. He even wore black, circular glasses that didn't allow you to see his eyes. The girl, she had dark purple hair that was hime-style and went past her waist while short strands had framed her face. She wore an oversize, long-sleeved, lavander and creem jacket with lavender cuffs and baggy navy blue pants with black, low-heeled ninja sandals. Her headband was around her neck, which obviously shown that she was a leaf shinobi. Her eyes were of the byakugan, something that Taiga had seen before.

The girl's face had immediately brightened red, her eyes averted. "Oh, N-Naruto-kun." She stuttered, which made Taiga raise a brow.

"Shino, Hinata." Naruto greeted them both as Taiga then saw all eyes on her arm. She had looked to see that Naruto had still held her arm even though he had helped her up minutes ago. Embarrassed, Taiga had pulled her arm away from him and when he noticed, he had rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry."

"So, uh, who's this?" Kiba pointed to Taiga, "Is she the girl that Lee has been runnin' his mouth about? He keeps talkin' about this girl that's been with you and Team Seven and how she is good with a sword."

"Only been out for a day and I'm already popular." Taiga sighed, "But yeah, your friend was talkin' about me."

Shino had then stepped forward, "Naruto," He said quietly, "another woman?"

"Another woman?" Both Taiga and Naruto said in a unison, looking at Shino like he was crazy.

"Sakura, Hinata..." He went on to say.

Confused as ever, Naruto squinted his eyes. "What the hell are you talking about, Shino?"

"Forget it." The strange boy immediately dropped the conversation as Naruto continued to look at him skeptically.

"I don't know what the hell you're thinking but it needs to stop." Taiga butted in, not liking the sound of what Shino was insinuating.

Kiba chuckled, "Whatcha getting' hostile for? Naruto is always around girls."

The shinobi-samurai had folded her arms. "I'm saying not to take it the wrong way."

Naruto blinked twice, "I'm always around girls?" He pointed to himself. "Since when?!"

"Don't even worry about it." said Taiga as she had walked ahead. "I'm outta here. I'll look for Sakura-san by myself."

"T-Taiga, wait!" He said but Kiba had grabbed his collar. "What are you doing?"

"You owe me, remember?" Taiga had looked over her shoulder, catching Kiba giving Hinata wink and the girl looking surprised. Something wasn't right about what was going on, but she decided not to look into it.

Naruto had struggled, flailing his arms. "Taiga, wait!" He kept urging her to wait up for him. Growing annoyed, she had spun around on her heels.

"Hey, can ya let the boy go so he can show me where I'll be stayin'? I know he owes you but he owes me something that's a bit more important." She didn't know why she helped him. Maybe it was the fact that he was gonna scream her name every five minutes if she didn't.

Kiba had frowned and then let the Uzumaki go, who immediately turned to him with his fist shaking in the air. "I'll get you for that, Kiba!"

"Yeah yeah." said the boy, who shrugged it off. "Next time, I'm not gonna let her save ya."

Naruto had walked towards Taiga, shaking his fist once more at Kiba, who grinned tauntingly. "I'll get him next time."

"Sure." said the female beside him as they had walked forward. "How long is it gonna take to reach Sakura-san's house?"

"Not too long, we're almost there." He sighed, his arms behind his head as they walked forward. "So when am I gonna get my samurai training?"

"When I think you're ready." She answered.

He had then walked in front of her, obviously not letting the conversation go. "Until I'm ready? When will I be ready? What am I preparing for?"

"Wielding a sword takes some mental discipline." Taiga explained, "And you're definitely not ready for it and I haven't begun to see if you're prepared for it. You're asking me to teach you when you can't even control your curiosity."

The boy had rubbed the back of his head, feeling uneasy once more. "Ah, right. You know best."

Taiga couldn't fight back her smile and merely shook her head, "You're a strange one, Uzumaki."

"Strange?" He squinted, "How am I strange?"

"You're unnaturally happy for no apparent reasons. Its grotesque but it's refreshing." Naruto had blinked a few times, "What?"

"Grotask?" Taiga blinked twice, "What does that mean? Big words really confuse me, dattebayo."

Her right hand had cover her mouth while her left arm was over her stomach. Her shoulders shook as she had tried her best to hold back her laughter, but it blurted out without warning. She had tilted her head back, her laughter filling the air in the middle of the village street.

Naruto had looked at her in surprise as the sound of jingling bells came through his mind at the sound of her laugh. It was surprisingly light, high-pitched than the mirthful voice tone she had usually taken. It almost sounded like a child's, which made it even more strange to him.

But it was contagious, but due to him upset that she was laughing at him, he just smiled.

"I knew it!" Both of them had looked towards the sound of the voice, "I knew Naruto was with another girl!"

"Ino?" Naruto had said as they had observed the platinum blonde, haired kunoichi with bright blue eyes. Her hair was pulled back in a high ponytail with bangs covering the right side of her face. She wore a short, purple, sleeveless button down blouse and an open-front purple apron-like skirt over a shorter black skirt with warmers on her elbows with fishnet ones as the same on her knees.

Ino had walked over to them, a smile on her face. "Cheating on your girlfriend, Naruto?" She had teased him.

"Cheating?" Naruto repeated, "What's with you and everyone sayin' weird stuff like that?" He questioned, his arms folded.

"I find that insulting being called his girlfriend." Taiga spoke up as Ino chuckled.

"Hey, Ino, is Sakura-chan home?" He asked, knowing how much good friends both Ino and Sakura were.

"Oh, yeah! She went home early." Ino nodded, "After working her shift in the hospital, she said she wanted to go home for something. Why? You guys looking for her?"

Naruto nodded, "Taiga is going to be staying in the village for a couple of days before we head off for our mission. And we're hoping that she could stay with Sakura-chan."

"Oh," The leaf shinobi had nodded understandingly, "it makes me want us to have a sleepover between us girls! We don't know much about you, but a friend of our dumbass is a friend of ours."

"Dumbass?" Naruto repeated as Taiga chuckled as he seemed to miss the point, but he clearly caught on a few minutes after. "H-Hey!"

"That's not really up to me, that sleepover thing you mentioned." Taiga had said, who was hoping that it wouldn't happen. "That's up to Sakura-san."

The blonde had grinned, "Oh. I know, and that's why I'm going with you guys to see her. I bet she'll like it. It's been such a lonnng time since we had one! Oh, we should just all to that hotspring inn not too far from Konoha, that'll be an adventure." Taiga felt uncomfortable with the idea, knowing how this might end. She wasn't sure how this was really going to work. "We do need a little vacation." Naruto began to warm up on the idea.

"Yeah, see! It'll be fun!" Ino had the boy hooked without even a good bait.

Taiga sighed, hanging her head. She couldn't escape it.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry this chapter is so short. I had a different idea in mind, but I decided I want all of Konoha 11 together for the next chapter because it'll spice things up.

***Edited:** Could've sworn Naruto used formalities with everyone else like he does with Sakura-chan, but thanks for correcting me reviewers!


	7. Chapter Six: Hot Spring Fun

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Masashi Kishimoto does!

* * *

Taiga had hoped that Sakura would shoot down the idea of them going to a Hot Spring inn, but unfortunately she seemed excited about it as much as Ino was. Even though she tried to knock the idea down by saying that it wasn't worth it and how they were going to pay for it, Ino insisted that everyone had enough and they would help pay for her share. So, no matter what the Kumo-kunoichi had said, they were bent on taking this "mini vacation".

Taiga was forced as she would claim it during this walk with what was called "Konoha 11". It was all the chuunin ( minus the genin rank of Naruto and jounin rank of Neji ). Everyone, mainly the girls, seemed quite excited for the trip. Naruto seemed to be in high spirits too from what she could tell.

Her eyes paid attention to the road, not wanting to focus on anything else. It wasn't like what she said mattered anyway because if it did, they wouldn't be going on this trip. "Someone doesn't seem excited."

Gazing to her left, her pupils settled on Naruto who was walking beside her. "Why would I be? I just wanted a simple rest before a mission. I didn't ask for," she looked behind them at the chattering shinobi and kunoichis, "all of this."

With a sneer, he rested his arms behind his head. "It's been awhile since we all did something together. That's why they didn't want to pass this opportunity up. Soon everyone will be busy again."

"And what do I have to do with that? This just seems like a distraction, a distraction I don't need." The blond worried for Taiga, somewhat. She hardly acted like a teen most days and remained so serious and no nonsense. He saw that there were times where she seemed relaxed but it honestly felt like a dime in a dozen since he had known her.

"There's nothing wrong with making more friends, dattebayo." His words didn't seem to reach her, in fact he believed her irritated her all over again. It was so easy to set her off, even with just the simplest of words.

With furrowed brows, she quickened her steps to walk ahead, leaving the Uzumaki behind. "Taiga, w-wait!"

"You know," Ino leaned towards Sakura, "Naruto and Taiga have been inseparable since I've seen them. What's with the deal with her anyway? Why did she come to Konoha? What village is she from?"

The pink-haired kunoichi couldn't help but chuckle at Ino's curiosity, which was reasonable given the circumstance. "Taiga…" Her green eyes looked up in thought, wondering if she was allowed to tell Ino the information of Taiga previously being a subordinate of Orochimaru. Deciding that it might be too risky, despite the blonde-haired girl being her best friend, she knew it was better not to. "Taiga is from Kumogakure. She's apart of the investigation for finding Yuuma."

"Oh?" Her friend's eyes widened in surprise, "But why is she here? Is Konoha helping with the investigation."

"Yeah," Sakura nodded, "Taiga knows Yuuma that's why it's important that she's within the team. We're helping us than she is helping us, to be honest."

"But that still doesn't explain why her and Naruto are getting awfully close." She persisted.

With a sigh, Sakura decided to let it in another dangerous detail. "She was friends with Sasuke-kun."

The Yamanaka seemed to freeze at that. Her blue eyes filled with shock and confusion. She glanced back at Taiga, who was arguing with the Uzumaki and trying her best to avoid him. "Sasuke-kun… You never told me what happened when you saw him."

"I'll fill you in with the details later. But yeah, she and Sasuke-kun were friends. I think that's why Naruto is so friendly with her because she knows Sasuke. I barely know who he is anymore..." Her eyes looked down at the ground, sadly, which made Ino frown.

Sai made an effort to keep up with Naruto and Taiga, seeing as they were far ahead of the group. Taiga was wary of him still, and quite creeped out by his company. Their first meeting didn't necessarily go well and so she wasn't trusting of him yet.

"I believe we got off on the wrong foot." He said to her as she kept her arms folded and moved slightly away from him.

"Yeah, tell me about it." She mumbled in reply rather bitterly, remembering that insult he hurled at her about her name.

Noticing her reluctance, he continued to push. "We'll be going on a mission together, so I think it's best if we learn to… accept each others company."

Taiga had to admit, he did have a point. And with Naruto breathing down her neck to hear her reply, she sighed. "Yeah, I guess… Whatever."

"It seems that you and Naruto have kindled a friendship. Tell me, what it is that you see friendship worthy in Naruto?" asked Sai.

The kumo-nin looked surprised since the question came out more so than an insult than a question out of curiosity. "Uh…" She hummed, slacked jawed as the Uzumaki rose a finger, pointing it angrily at Sai.

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean, Sai?!" He shouted, Taiga wincing as he was so close to her ear as her hands pressed against his chest to push him away.

"Honestly, can I get some quiet? I didn't even want to go to this place and now you two are arguing? Give me a break…"

It didn't matter. Naruto was guns ablazing and even went as far to move around Taiga to deal with Sai head on. With her arms folded, she shrugged her shoulders and kept walking. It didn't matter to her if she had beat him to a pulp, that was their own problem.

An arm had casually wrapped around her shoulder, her eyes immediately darted to the person on her left to see Ino and now to her right was Sakura. "Taiga-chan~" There was something mischievous about the blonde's voice and it made the Kumo-nin wary. "Tell me all you know about Sasuke-kun."

Her eyes widened for a split second before closing halfway. Maybe she should've suspected that, that some of the Konoha 11 were curious of what became of Sasuke since he, well, left and joined Orochimaru ( and later on killed him ). "What are you trying to find out?" She asked.

"Oh, you know, the important things." The blue-eyed girl replied playfully, "Like, is he tall? Still hot?" These questions didn't surprise her, not in the slightest. Even Taiga knew Sasuke's popularity with girls.

Shrugging her shoulders, she kept her eyes fixated on the heated Uzumaki. "He's taller, naturally. He's about an inch or two taller than dumbass over there."

With a sigh, the blonde-haired girl had tried to imagine a taller Sasuke. "But you didn't answer if he was, you know, hot."

"I'onno." She replied, "I don't see him that way."

Nearly jumping at the over-exaggerated, horrified gasp, her eyes immediately locked onto Ino as she shook her head, "Ain't this a first? Sasuke-kun is so popular with girls, I've never heard of someone saying they didn't like him."

Was it really that surprising or was she just joking? Taiga prayed it was the latter. "We're here!" Sakura shouted happily, making the Kumo-nin feel relieved. The sooner they got this over with, the sooner they would get out.

The girls and boys paid for two separate rooms. Taiga wasn't at ease with the fact she would spending a whole few days with such a large group and having no privacy to herself. At least there were other places instead of the Hot Spring inn; the town was large enough for her to preoccupy herself with other things.

The girls had placed their belongings in their room, trying to decide on what they wanted to do. Taiga, for the most part, had left without a word. Slipping out of the room while they were distracted so they hadn't seen her.

Her arms were raised above her head to stretch, a yawn escaping her lips. The first place she decided to go was the town's streets; just to mindlessly travel around to get a feel of the place, and to take her further away from the unwanted company.

As she walked, enjoying the warm sun against her skin, she had felt something hit her feet. Stopping her stroll, she looked down to see a brown ball. Picking it up, she moved around in observation before a little boy came up to her. "Excuse me miss, we need the ball back."

"Oh..." handing it to him into a gentle manner, she greeted him with a small smile. "Here."

"Thanks lady!" He beamed before looking up at her curiously, "Do you wanna play? We're short on a player. Nobu was supposed to play, but he has to help his dad with some stuff."

"I don't… know how to play." Taiga replied, somewhat embarrassed. It seemed like a game all kids should know, but she honestly couldn't recall a time where she could play outside with kids her own age when she was young.

The boy grinned, "Its easy! All ya gotta do is keep the ball in the air, only with your feet though. You have to pass to other people, keep it going."

Nodding her head, understanding the gist of it, she followed behind him as the kids were in an awkward circle. The boy had placed the ball on the floor before digging his toes beneath it and lifting it up on his foot. He kicked the ball in the air swiftly. It didn't go too high, so when it came back down, he could easily kick the ball to the girl on the other side.

Just watching the children find so much joy in a simple game had made her heart warm up. They had no idea of the fights and terrors outside, all around them, they had only knew their friendship and their games.

They were still innocent.

And Taiga had envied that.

She couldn't once remember the innocence that they had. From a young age, a sword was placed in her hands and then it was off the Academy. Even though she had her friends, she didn't have the time to play games with them like these children had.

It made her think that if she could give up anything to be raised without the worries of life and death then she would give up anything she possibly could for the lives they had. The carefree spirits they had about live, she wished she endured.

When the ball was sent her way amidst her thinking, Taiga tried her best to catch the ball, which ended up bouncing on her knee and into the air. Luckily enough she hadn't touched it with her hands or she would've been disqualified. It came back down and she used the tip of her feet to balance it, she wasn't skilled enough to do the tricks they had done but they hadn't seemed to mind it.

After sending the ball in the air a few times, she passed it off to the next child. She stayed with them for a while, playing their game. Their laughs would ring in her ears, warming her chest with the sound of pure happiness. Hopefully, they would be able to keep their smiling faces.

"Taiga!" Her head whipped around to see Naruto, jogging towards her. "I was wondering where you went. The girls couldn't find you."

"I wanted to walk around." She stated casually with a shrug of her shoulders, her eyes glancing back at the playing children. "Why?"

His eyes had followed hers to the group of kids and then back at her expression. It was the first time he had seen her calm, not even on the edge or heavily guarded. She seemed relaxed and happy even.

His eyes went wide at the fact, staring at her as she remained unaware of his transfixed gaze. "They're lucky." Her voice broke him out of his concentration, he ended up blinking and shaking his head.

"Them?" He pointed at them with his thumbs and she had nodded in reply. "Yeah, they are."

Slowly, she fixed her eyes on the Uzumaki as he watched them with a smile on his own. "I'm going."

"Going where?" He asked.

"Back to the inn, where else am I going?" Her eyes narrowed slightly before she turned and made her leave.

He quickly caught up and walked alongside her. Taiga hadn't complained or said anything at all during their quiet stroll back, which made Naruto wonder if there was something on her mind. He wondered if she was dreading this mission on going to Kumogakure and he would've understood if she was. It couldn't be easy to go back to the place where your family was… slaughtered.

It made him think of Sasuke, wondering how he had the strength to go to the Uchiha compound. How could he face going back after what he had seen? In a way, in his eyes, Sasuke and Taiga were somewhat the same. So heavily guarded, mysteries without clues, and he yearned to understand their loneliness because he suffered from it too.

At first Taiga was the key in unlocking Sasuke, but he, himself, became engrossed more than he originally planned. They split ways once they reached the inn, she headed towards the girls room and he made his way towards the boys.

As soon he walked in, all the boys were gathered around. "Hey, Naruto, where'd ya go?" Kiba asked, genuinely curious.

"For a walk." Naruto answered with a half truth, "What's everyone doing?"

"We decided to go to the hot springs after we eat." Shikamaru explained, "But we all can't decide on what we want."

"What's the inn known for?" He asked, "Like, any specialty or whatever?"

Everyone looked at one another and then slowly shrugging their shoulders, "Guess that means we'll have to eat with the girls. I bet they'll know."

Meanwhile Taiga's eyes looked around at the girls, who were looking at the menu in thought. "You think we should eat together with the boys?" Ino asked, "I have no idea what to get."

"I've heard their beef tongue is really good here!" TenTen chimed in, "I bet the boys have no idea on what to eat."

"Honestly." Sakura sighed, "I bet Naruto is down for ramen but I'm not sure if this place even serves that." The Kumo-nin snorted at that, the corner of her lips rising in a half smile. She had to agree with Sakura there. "Uh, Taiga, is there anything you really want?"

"Takoyaki sounds about nice right now." She answered, "I haven't had that in a long time."

"Oooh, you're right~" squealed Ino, "I haven't had any in a long time either! Hinata, is there anything you want in particular?"

"Ah!" A bit startled by the question, she looked down in thought before giving a smile. "Some zenai sounds good."

Contorting her face in disgust, Ino shrugged her shoulders. "Okay, we'll… get that for you. _Just_ for you, Hinata."

The Yamanaka took the initiative to make the orders while Sakura visited the boys to ask them to eat dinner together. Everyone was now crowded around a large table in the boy's room, waiting for the food that they order. To Taiga's left was Sakura on her right was Naruto. They were possibly the only two she felt truly comfortable around although she was getting quite used to the boisterous Ino.

Her eyes looked up at Naruto as he was talking to Sai who sat across from him, she wasn't really paying attention to the conversation but more so concentrating on Naruto's face.

Her eyes could fully observed the whisker-marks on his face, reminding her that he was the jinchuuriki of the Nine-tails. She had remembered the jinchuurikis in her village: Killer Bee and and Yugito. There were stories of jinchuuriki having rough youths, which she couldn't even fathom to understand but she wondered if Naruto really suffered like the stories she had heard.

Killer Bee once spoke ( more like rapped ) about the prejudices he suffered, but he always spoke of managing to pull through. It had to be the same for Naruto, right? Yet, here he was, smiling and laughing like he never dealt with pain before.

"Taiga." Her eyes glanced away from the Uzumaki quickly, looking to the Haruno at her left. "Are you alright?"

"Huh? What?" She asked, still somewhat dazed in her thinking.

Sakura's brow slowly rose, "You were staring at Naruto for, like, five minutes." At least the girl was tactful enough to keep her voice lowered so nobody else could hear their conversation.

"I was thinking about something." She answered albeit truthfully, "I really took notice to the jinchuuriki markings on Naruto's face." She replied, "Did he… have a hard time?"

The pink-haired kunoichi was overall surprised by Taiga's words. Her eyes widening before lowering, giving her a slow nod. "Yeah, Naruto… suffered greatly."

It was natural that she felt pity for him. Sakura looked more so guilty than she had sad, but Taiga couldn't blame her for it. It seems like it was a reoccurring thing for those with tailed-beasts, and it wasn't fair to punish those who did not know better.

"I see." Taiga mumbled as the food was spread across the table and everyone was given bowls and chopsticks.

"Takoyaki?" Naruto said as he watched the plate of ball-shaped food was moved near her.

"Mm." Taiga hummed, "I asked for it." She said as she filled her bowl with white rice and began to eat.

Seeing no problem with her answer, he filled his bowl with less rice and vegetables and more so noodles and meat. Taiga frowned at this, but she wasn't Naruto's mother despite the fact how much she wanted to lecture him for his eating habits.

"Put some more vegetables in your bowl." The words slipped, "You can't just eat meat."

His brows knitted together, his blue eyes staring at her in defiance. "I don't like vegetables. I'm fine."

"No you're not. That's not healthy!" She argued back, even going as far to put pieces of cabbage in his bowl along with some raw tomatoes and mushrooms.

"O-Oi!" Naruto yelled, looking down at his bowl with obvious disgust and contempt at the foods. "I-I don't want any of this!"

"Eat it!" Taiga said, "It's good for you."

The others watched their spat, Naruto going as far as to try to pluck some of the things she placed in there out while she angrily shoved the tomatoes in his mouth. Ino and Sakura bursted into a fit of laughter, Shikamaru shaking his head with a sigh, as Kiba encouraged Taiga's rough tactics.

"C'mon, Naruto! Eat it!" He teased as he took a chunk of a bite of some beef tongue.

It didn't bother her that she was straddling his waist, using her own chopsticks to shove the foods into his mouth and watching him squirm under her. "Tai...ga!" He could barely say his name, his mouth stuffed with food. Immediately, her hands clamped over his mouth so that he had no choice but to chew and swallow it down.

With a grin at her victory, she removed herself off of him and back to her pillow seat to eat her food like none of that ever occurred. "W-What the hell!" Naruto choked out, beating his fist against his chest to help him breathe.

"I told you to eat something healthy and you didn't want to. So I made you." The fact that she said it without care irritated him, his eyes narrowing at her in diluted anger.

The rest of the dinner went off with a hitch. Conversations had floated all around despite the arguments that would ensue between herself and Naruto, but she was beginning to like this Konoha bunch. The various personalities were enough to overwhelm her but interested in each individual person.

It took them an hour for the girls to decide to leave and go back to their room. They were planning on going to the hotsprings, but wanted to get their Yukatas ready. Taiga wasn't too keen on the outfit change but Ino managed to convince her too, and they even had to convince Hinata to wear one as well.

-x-

"Wow!" Ino chimed happily as they gathered to the hot spring, "This hot spring is huge!"

Already in the water, making their way to the section with the miniature waterfall. Taiga's arm was still gripped by Ino's since she dragged the girl out here at this time of night.

Suddenly, there was a sound of splash.

The only ones who seemed to have caught the sound was Taiga and Ino. "Who's that? Is someone there?" She called out.

"What's the matter, Ino?" asked TenTen, "Did you see something?"

"Did you… hear that just now?" She asked them. Hinata, TenTen, and Sakura all shook their heads.

"Hear what?" Sakura questioned before looking to Taiga, "What about you, Taiga? Did you hear something...?"

"I heard it too." She replied, "It sounded like…. someone splashing in the water."

Ino now became alert, "You did, huh? Hinata, could you check over there?"

"Uhm… but… I, uh… Okay." The way the purple-haired girl was fiddling her fingers gave an indication that she was scared, but she seemed to brave through it, only slightly.

"I'll go with you." Taiga chimed in, "Hinata and I will go around from the left. Sakura and Ino, you go towards the right. TenTen, you hold the fort here."

Everyone nodded and split and headed off. "Could there... be other guests in the bath?" Hinata questioned with her ghost-like eyes fixated on the area before them.

"Possibly, but Ino chose this time specifically since she figured that no one would be." She replied as they walked alongside each other, trudging through the hot and therapeutic water.

"I-If that's the case then, would be causing trouble, w-walking around like this?" Taiga did see Hinata's point.

Feeling to play it safe than sorry, Taiga trudged on anyway. "Is someone out here?!" She yelled out into the depths of the hot spring. There was no answer. "I guess not."

"Could it have been...a g-ghost?" The magenta-eyed girl quickly looked to Hinata, who continued to look around with little trembles of fear. As she much as she hated to admit it, Taiga found her quite… cute.

"I doubt it, Hinata." In some ways, she wanted to quell the girl's worrying and opted to take the girl's petite hand in hers to give it a reassuring squeeze. Hinata jumped at it, surprised, but gave a smile as she understood the gesture. It had certainly calmed her nerves. "Let's head back."

Giving a nod, Hinata walked alongside Taiga back to TenTen to see Sakura and Ino arrive at the same time. "Hm… I don't see anything suspicious." Sakura sighed, "Maybe you guys were paranoid."

"Maybe." Taiga replied as she walked over towards a bunch of maple leaves, picking them up as her eyes looked around. "Nothing here…"

"I'm not scared, y'know." Nobody didn't think Ino was, but they certainly had now with that comment. She was a tough girl, but maybe she thought it was a ghost or something like Hinata had.

And then another splash was heard.

"...!" Ino whipped her head around, "What was that? An animal?!"

Taiga shrugged, "Maybe it's a monkey."

Blue eyes immediately lit upon the thought, "Oh yeah! They usually do come to the hot springs! Haha, well, there's nothing to worry about them. I'm all spooked out."

Everyone had sat down to enjoy the waters, no longer bothered by what happened earlier. Now it was time to relax and not worry about a single thing. They stayed for another thirty minutes in silence.

"The water seems... a little hot." A tired sigh came from Hinata, her pale face already glowing red, possibly from being in the hot water for such a long time.

"I guess we stayed long enough." TenTen sighed, completely relaxed. "I'll treat you to some ice cream, Hinata."

-x-

It was morning and everyone was dressed in their usual clothes. Taiga decided to venture upon the village for their second day, but as she had went down the steps and saw the boys on the bench, she realized they looked quite… well, beat.

"What's up with you guys?" She asked, noting how they seemed to tense up. Sakura and Ino had came along the steps behind her, noticing the same.

"O-Oh!" Naruto stuttered, sweat immediately coming down his brow. "Good morning, e-everybody!"

"Why are you sweating?" asked Sakura, her arms folded as she squinted her eyes rather suspiciously.

Ino looked towards Lee, Shikamaru, and Choji. "Those three don't seem well either…"

"Oh, no!" Lee immediately said, his hands raised defensively as if he been accused.

Choji laughed quite strangely, "We spent a little too much time in the bath yesterday…"

"You idiot!" Shikamaru muffled under his breath, glaring at his best friend.

"Huh?" Sakura's brow raised, "Did the heat get to you?"

"Hehehe~" Naruto's hand rubbed the back of his head, "I guess you could put it that way. I didn't think it would be so amaz—"

Immediately Neji clasped his hand over the Uzumaki's mouth, "Quiet you."

Hinata and TenTen had now joined them, "You're so weird." Ino replied, confused by it all.

"Well, whatever." Sakura shrugged it off, "Taiga, let's go."

As they walked away, the guys began to whisper to each other and even though something told Taiga to investigate, she decided to go on anyway.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Wow, it has been so long, and to only give you guys a filler chapter. I'm so sorry, but there were some special treats in there that I wanted people to know about Taiga and Naruto. At least I will give a longer and better chapter after this. So, hooplah~


	8. Chapter Seven: Pillar

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Masashi Kishimoto does!

**Author's Note:** Just a warning, this chapter is rated M for slight gore. Its probably not that bad, but I wanted to make sure. Also, with the second flash back, you'll notice it won't be in italics because it'll be long and I think italics would be too much an unnecessary. So, that's why its different.

* * *

The mini vacation was over. Taiga, even though she didn't want the trip, was quite sad that it had ended. Meeting the young chuunin ( and jounin ) of Konoha was quite a feat in itself, but it was the first time in a long time that she had fun and relaxation. Ino proved to be quite a spontaneous friend, and she would leave her on the edge ( albeit uncomfortable at times too ) but her happiness and attitude clicked very well with her. It was also fun to see Sakura as her natural self since she was still getting to learn about the Haruno.

TenTen was the easy-going and more so calm with playful aspects. Taiga had fun talking about sword techniques and weaponry with her whenever they had time together. She looked forward to meeting her again and getting to know her better. Hinata, quite shy and quiet, was also a real treat. Although it was quite hard getting her out of her shell, she found the girl's gentle nature comforting and refreshing. She just seemed so odd out of the group ( even though Neji proved to be quiet too but he was much more funnier and less yet still stiff than she had expected ). Maybe next time their friendship would blossom even more, or so Taiga hoped.

All the relationships she formed with them reminded her of her friendship with Karin, Suigetsu, and Sasuke. Even though the personalities were extremely different, the sense of camaraderie and happiness was the same. At times it made her sad and nostalgic, and she would often walk away from such group events as she remembered the past, but as usual, Naruto was always conveniently there to get her out of those moods. She couldn't shake the boy off, even if she wanted to.

Now they were setting sail for Kumogakure. Konoha 11 had even come to see them off, much to her surprise. The cheers and waves of goodbye did feel weird, but were also a reminder that this was how people showed affection. To her left, Naruto was waving with a big grin on his face and on her right, Sakura was doing the same. The only odd ones out of the bunch were her and Sai, who stood there rather awkwardly as they watched the ninjas become distance as the ship sailed onward.

Even Kakashi as well as Yamato had waved. Kakashi and Yamato weren't as excited as Jiraiya, who looked like a clone of Naruto with his expressions. She could even see the Hokage, Lady Tsunade, rolling her eyes but with a smile, waved along as Jiraiya stood next to her.

"I hope none of ya get sea sick!" Jiraiya shouted as all of them looked at one another before landing their eyes at Taiga.

This wasn't her first time at sea, but there was the fact that it was going to be a long sail. "I'm fine." Taiga blurted out, feeling as if she was under pressure. "Really."

"I'm gonna check out the rooms." Sakura said, "Taiga, we should pick ours before one of the boys take 'em."

"Right." She nodded before walking alongside the leaf kunoichi.

"It seems those two are getting close." Kakashi said, his arms folded. "I guess the trip did do what it was intended."

"Huh?" Naruto whipped around to look at Kakashi, "Do what it was what?"

The copy ninja gave a nod, his lone eye closed. "Tsunade-sama set it all up. She gave Ino those tickets so that all of you could have a break while also easing the tension between Taiga and the others. She found it best if Taiga learned to cooperate better with the others in her own way but on our time."

Naruto's mouth hung open in shock, "So everyone knew about this but me and Taiga?!"

"Sakura didn't know either, if that's of any consolation." Yamato chimed in, "But it seems to have worked except for the fact that your relationship with her is still the same." He teased, "I guess there's but so much a little push can do."

Puffing his cheeks, the Uzumaki glared away from them and out into the ocean. "She's always difficult with me. I don't get it." Scratching the back of his head, he let out a sigh. "Its like she hates me or somethin'."

"I think she hates everyone." Sai added, "I can't blame her."

Naruto glared at him from the corner of his eyes, "The feeling is mutual."

"Now now, you two." Kakashi waved his hands, gesturing for them to simmer down their tempers. "Let's get to our rooms and then have lunch."

As Naruto walked forward, arms behind his head and his eyes closed, he couldn't help but reflect on that short conversation he had with Jiraiya before he boarded the ship:

**Flashback**

_"Well, Naruto," Jiraiya said with his arms crossed, "It seems to me you've been a little friendly with the sword girl."_

_"Huh?!" His eyes looked up at the gallant before sucking his teeth. "Friendly? She's always at my throat! How am I gonna learn any Kenjutsu if we can barely get along in the first place?"_

_With a hearty laugh, he placed his arm around the blond's shoulder. "She doesn't hate ya, I can guarantee it."_

_"What makes you say that, Ero-sennin?" Confused, but curious, he kept his eyes fixated on Jiraiya._

_"Women are quite difficult creatures, but Taiga falls under the category of being uneasy of trusting others." He explained, "I think she trusts you, but she just has a hard time accepting friendships."_

_"Aw yeah? Then explain why Sakura-chan and even Ino got better treatment than me?" He questioned with narrowed eyes, not buying into the explanation._

_"First off, Sakura and Ino are girls and those two are just naturally friendly. I think they accommodated to Taiga's personality well. You're a bit pushy in the wrong way, Naruto." Naruto wasn't quite sure why he was accepting advice on women from Jiraiya due to the fact that Tsunade barely could tolerate him, but they were close friends oddly enough._

_He wondered if he and Taiga could be like Jiraiya and Tsunade; two vastly different people with tempers but a friendship built enough to last. "I'onno, it just doesn't seem like its gonna happen."_

_"I'd like to know why it's really bothering you though. Does a friendship really mean that much to you?" Of course, Jiraiya knew that Naruto didn't really, to put it mildly, like rejection in any form. Jiraiya proposed that he saw Taiga ( as he saw Sasuke ) as a person who refused to acknowledge him despite all his efforts. He would keep chasing and chasing, and Jiraiya knew that it wasn't healthy for the boy but telling Naruto to not do something made Naruto do it even more._

_The Uzumaki hummed in thought, "I'm not sure. At first, I wanted to know more about Sasuke through her but…" He paused, "It's like, well…" His hand went to scratching the back of his head, "I can't explain it." Naruto sighed._

_"Hmmm…." With a hum, Jiraiya decided to leave the conversation alone, for now. There were more observations to be done and he couldn't pinpoint everything together in one fell swoop._

**End Flashback**

When he reached the corridors of the cabin hall, he noticed Taiga took the one on the far right as if to distance herself from the others. Sakura was four doors down with Kakashi to her left and Yamato taking the one next to his. Even after becoming friends with Sakura, she still tended to search for long extended space.

Why does she build borders? Walls so high that nobody could reach? _Why_ did it bother him so much? Why did he want to climb over them? He was beginning to wonder if he was as pushy as Jiraiya said he was. Did he always feel the need to constantly involve himself in other people's lives? And was it because he had no one there for him when he was younger that he attached himself to any person that was distant from him?

Nah, he shook it off. _'That's stupid.' I don't do that..._ He thought. Though he was surprised at the fact that his feet unknowingly led him to Taiga's door with his eyes staring at the wooden barrier.

Hovering his knuckle against the door, he found himself completely uneasy. Doubt began to fill his mind, filling up all the unknowing spaces of Jiraiya's words. Maybe he should be patient and way until she was ready to open up, but how long would that be? What if she never did? But did it really matter if she had? His mind was beginning to whirl from all the questions that seemed to overwhelm him, and before he could turn around and leave, the door of her room had opened.

"...?" Her head slowly tilted back, magenta eyes staring straight in his oceanic blues. "Naruto?"

"I was just…" Nothing didn't seem like a good excuse. He couldn't say he was heading towards his room since he was right in front of her door.

Her brows furrow skeptically but her expression loosens into a state of calm. "I...was just about to look for you."

"Oh?" Genuinely surprised, he couldn't help but smile at the fact. "W-What did ya need me for?"

"For training purposes." Quickly, her hand reached out for his wrist and she pulls him into the room, shutting the door with a soft thud.

"Ah!" He yelps, stumbling on his way in but her grip on him is tight enough to keep him from falling face first onto the wooden floor.

Rolling her eyes, her hand let's go and she walks into the center of the room. "Sit down." Her hands gesture towards the small table in her room, and with a thump, he plops onto a pillow seat. Sitting at the other side, she gives him a long stare. "It'll be difficult teaching a teenage boy Kenjutsu."

"When's the usual starting age?" Because he didn't know, and was wondering when she started, he bothered to ask.

"Three." She answered, watching his face shift into a look of astonishment. "At three we begin practicing the basics of fencing. We didn't get to use a real sword until five or even seven."

"We weren't allowed to hold fake kunais at three!" Naruto said in shock. _'No wonder why she's so good with a sword. That young?'_

His reaction did amuse her but she didn't give him a smile, but there was a spark in her eyes. "We had to learn so young to keep children safe. There were many dangers, so we provided early combat training. Its unusual for girls to be samurai, but my stepfather tried to pass me off as a boy."

"Why?" It almost, just almost, amazed her how he talked without thinking first. What if it was a sensitive subject? He wouldn't have any idea.

Luckily, it wasn't. "He wanted a boy, a first born boy, and so he decided to discard by gender and announce me as a boy, weird isn't it?"

"How was he gonna hide ya for long with that?" His finger pointed towards her breasts nonchalantly. Her eyes widened at the bold statement, and her hand balled up into a fist. "I-I was just askin'! I mean, its pretty obvious, dattebayo!"

Swiftly, she grabbed onto his finger and pulled it back. He yelped in mercy, muttering apologies as if there were no tomorrows. "Say somethin' else about 'em and I'll break your finger, Uzumaki."

"Alright, alright!" He pleaded, relieved when she let go as he hissed and tried to shake the pain away.

"Anyway, boys were sent off by a relative or a fencing instructor, and we were taught military tactics, archery, riding, and handling a spear as well as jujutsu and all that."

"Wow!" His eyes lit up in surprise, still shaking his hand. "So you know all of that and went into ninja academy?"

She shook her head, "My sensei only taught me the sword, and I learned the rest in Ninja Academy. I'm okay in archery and I'm afraid of horses… I'm pretty, well, I'm just terrible with a spear."

He grinned at her admittance, knowing it was hard to admit some of her shortcomings. "You're still awesome."

A flaming tint dyed across her cheeks, she let out a faux cough to try to hide her embarrassment. She could barely look him in the eyes and decided to look elsewhere as she spoke, "Being a woman in this world is pretty hard. Kunoichis have it better than samurai women. A woman of samurai clans have to be humble, affectionate, gentle and... _passive_."

"I can see how that lifestyle wasn't for you." Naruto said with a sneer, "You, affectionate? Gentle? Passive?! That's like a crazy drea—"

The finger she had grabbed before was bent back again in revenge, and the boy screamed once more realizing his own mistake. "You're testing me." She warned, "I'll just break it."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He hurriedly apologized again, and she had let go but not without a glare this time.

"Like I was saying, because of our religion, men were considered a higher life form and women could not reach nirvana until she lived the life of a man, through reincarnation. A virtuous heart was more important to a woman than beauty." Her eyes lowered, staring at the table. "Such is life for a woman, and I was glad my stepfather strayed me away from that. Women ruled indoors, outside was a man's domain."

"That's crazy talk!" He replied, "Some of the strongest people I know are girls!"

Although his words made her want to smile, she was still quite angry at him for the insults he had given her a few minutes ago. No matter how playful it was, she was still annoyed by it. "Before I even let you touch a sword or figure the right fighting-style for you, you have to know what a sword means to a samurai."

Leaning forward, intrigued, he gave her his full attention. "A samurai's sword represents their soul."

"Their soul?" Naruto repeated, his eyebrow arched in confusion.

She nodded in reply, "Our swords usually represent us, samurai, and we fight with our souls, not just our bodies. A sword is usually accompanied with a wakizashi, just a little longer than what Sai uses, and it is passed down from one generation to the next."

"Where's yours?" Again, speaking without thinking.

"My stepfather kept it." She sighed, "He said he would give it to me when I was older but…" Taiga shrugged her shoulders.

He regretted for speaking so quickly. "Can I have one? Just to, uh pass down to my little brat one day, dattebayo."

"That's cute." Her hand covered her mouth as she chuckled, "Sasuke didn't want one when I made him Kusanagi."

"Kusanagi, huh? Why did he name it that?" This was the first time he had heard something positive come out of her mouth about Sasuke. Not wanting to ruin the chance, he decided to learn a bit more of the Uchiha through her.

"Hm…" With a hum, her eyes looked up at the wooden ceiling of the cabin. "I'm not quite sure, but he picked the name and the sword fits well with it."

"I'll get to choose the name of my sword, right?" His eyes were alight, which didn't surprise her. That seemed to be everyone's favorite part.

With a nod, and a miniature smile, she replied. "Yeah, but only _after_ I make it."

"Of course!" Naruto cheesed, "So, my training starts when we reach the Sanemori compound?"

"Mm." With a nod, she finally gazed at him. "Its not gonna be easy. You'll have to always be on your guard."

"On my guard? Huh? What's that supposed to mean?" Instead of giving him an answer, she shrugged her shoulders as if she had no idea what he was talking about.

**o**O**o**

The days went by fast as they sailed through the ocean blue. It had been a long time, but Naruto did like the smell of the sea. The vault of blue that seemed like it stretched on forever was quite calming, and kept him in a happier mood than usual. It would've bored him after a while had they kept sailing, but the captain of the ship was in much of a hurry as he was. The prospect of Kenjutsu training was keeping his blood pumping, but there was also the nagging feeling of Taiga going back to a home that was rich in trauma.

Naruto confided in Sakura how hard it must be for Taiga to go back, but Sakura was optimistic that Taiga would pull through. She thrown up the fact that Taiga was "brave" and "resilient" but Naruto wasn't all that sure of that. Back then, Naruto could see the hesitance yet urgency of Sasuke going back into the Uchiha compound. Yes, it was true, Naruto followed his "rival" from time to time when the boy was in Konoha. He always wondered how Sasuke felt going back there but he promised to be more of a pillar for Taiga even though he knew very well she would reject the idea.

Taiga having a pillar? A person to lean on? Tch, just the thought alone didn't even sound right and to think it made him seem, well, crazy.

It didn't take too long for them to reach the docks and finally there was land to be walked on. Naruto practically sped down the gangplank to and off boardwalk, anxious for his feet to be on the ground, and breathed in the fresh air of the Lightning Region.

It smelled stormy, at least that's what he thought. The Land of Fire smell more of forests, and Konoha just radiated with the sense of nature and he did not get that feeling here; talk about the vast differences of countries.

Taiga was the last to walk down the gangplank, her eyes looking towards the distance in the direction of the hidden cloud village. The Sanemori compound was in the outskirts of it, so at least the walking distances wouldn't be too out of control for them.

"Everyone has their things?" Kakashi questioned, sounding like a parent. Naruto gave him a nod, Sakrua replied with a yes and Sai as well as Taiga remained silent. "_Oookay_, I'll take that as a yes."

"Kakashi-sensei." Naruto decided to strike up a conversation, wanting to speak about something that was plaguing his mind. "Why are both you and Captain Yamato on the mission with us?"

Sakura looked over her shoulder at the jounin, questioning the same but Taiga and Sai seemed to not care about the conversation. "Yuuma is a really dangerous threat. This isn't something we can let you guys do on your own." Yamato replied instead.

"What Yamato said." Kakashi gave a closed-eye smile, his thumb pointing to the wood-user.

Naruto took the answer with stride although he felt slightly offended by it. Did they think they wouldn't hold up a decent fight against him? Heh, Naruto gave a snort. He was sure he could beat that guy senseless, and he was sure Taiga could give that man a run for his money too!

"Yuuma is no ordinary man." Her voice caught everyone off guard, their eyes immediately looking towards her. "We call him Devil Yuuma for a reason."

The lack of emotion in her voice unnerved him. There wasn't even a trace of anger, but he could sense the fear within in. Although she boastfully proclaimed that the man's head was hers, she still feared him, much to Naruto's surprise.

"Devil… Yuuma?" Yamato repeated, his eyes glossed with surprise and interest.

Taiga's hands tightened on the straps of her backpack, her eyes remaining glued on the road before them. "It was once given to him because of his fearlessness and that it was inherited it to him by his sensei, Hanzō. Yet, when I was young, a rumor once started that every since he had the sword, Muramasa, that he was given that he became a violent and ill-balanced minded man verging on madness."

"He was trained under Hanzō?!" Yamato's shock surprised the leaf ninjas ( save for Kakashi; at least the shock wasn't on his face ). "Then he's really serious business."

"Who's this Hanzy guy?" queried Naruto, "What's the big deal about him?"

Sai, for the first time in a long while, decided to give the answer. "He's a legendary shinobi, Naruto. He is well-known and renowned throughout the shinobi world, such is common knowledge, Naruto." The blond bit back his bite at Sai's jabbing remark, "Enemies certainly fled at the sight of him."

"I've never met him." Taiga announced, "But his name lives like a heavy cloud to us samurai."

"Teh, must've not been that great if I never heard of him." Sakura rolled her eyes, sighing. "But it doesn't matter, we're gonna take this Yuuma guy down."

"That's the spirit." Kakashi replied, "That's that good ole' Naruto for ya."

Unsure on whether Kakashi was serious or teasing, the look of determination never left Naruto's eyes. Taiga glanced over at him, remembering the look on his face and undeniably felt a boost from it.

It would take a day or two before they arrived as Taiga led the way. They had taken breaks, camped at night. The journey there felt long despite how short it would be and often times, Naruto complained half through the way about how boring it was since there weren't any towns close enough for them to rest in. They've dealt with his whining.

Eventually, after climbing up the large and long flight of stairs, they had found themselves a large gate. "Whoa!" Naruto voice his shocked.

The gate was way bigger than they would've imagined. The lower half was made of stone while the mid and upper half way made of wood and painted white with a grayish colored roof.

"The compound is in the second circle." Taiga commented, "There's still people that live here. The castle and second circle is just… empty."

"I thought there were no more people of your clan." Naruto said, confused.

Taiga sighed, "They aren't Sanemori people, but people that followed them. They don't have our name but they were once our people. After the… massacre, they came and rebuilt."

"Oh..." Was all the Uzumaki could say.

"Who goes there?" The large, middle-section window was opened at the gate. A man in his mid-forties and a balding topknot revealed himself.

"Its me, Taiga." She answered, "And these are my, uh, comrades."

His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "Taiga?! Sanemori Taiga?! Its been so long! And look how big you've gotten."

"Yeah, yeah. Can you open the door, old man?" Embarrassed as Sakura and Naruto chuckled at the old man's enthusiasm, the gate was opened and they had walked through.

"its a good thing they still remember you." Kakashi commented, "I'm sure they wouldn't have been as friendly had you not been here."

She snorted, "Of course not. You think they trust strangers after what happened?"

"So, is this the third circle?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, this is where the lower class lives and works." And boy was she right. Naruto hadn't expected this place to be so crowded and busy, people running around selling their wares and having conversations in the middle of the street. This trip wasn't as gloomy as he expected it to be.

The whole samurai lifestyle was totally new to them.

The man who opened the gates for them had came down, his arms wrapping around the Kumo-nin. "Taiga, its been so long."

"Yeah, I know Isshiki." She replied in kind, returning the hug rather hesitantly.

Once he pulled away, he wiped a stray hair that stuck up on top of his head. "Minamoto has been good to us and sent us a lot of help when we chose rebuild."

Her eyes lightened up at the fact and a smile came across her lips. "Yoshitsune-sensei had given up the samurai lifestyle. So, I guess this is what he meant when he said his people would be in a better place."

"The dumbass samurai here were having a break. That's why I was the only one at the gate, but I guess they deserved it. We've been on the alert when we heard, you know, was still kickin'."

Her eyes lowered, "Yeah. They need to be extra cautious now, we don't need a part two of that night again."

"I know." Placing a hand on her shoulder, he gave it a reassuring squeeze. "But what brings you here, little cub?"

"Little cub?" Naruto and Sakura said a unison, both trying to contain their laughter.

Taiga glared at them upon her nickname, "Shut up!" She shouted at them before looking back at Isshiki. "We're going to find clues as to what that asshole's true motive is."

"In the… palace?" He questioned.

"Yeah." She replied calmly, showing that she was not scared into going back into that place as much as everyone thought she was.

Although he was worried, he knew that fretting over Taiga wasn't wanted and a good way to provoke her. "I see. I'm not gonna stop ya. Go on your way, but come by the teahouse whenever you want your favorite dumplings!"

"Thanks Isshiki." With a nod and a wave, she gestured her hand forward for them to follow.

"He seems like a nice guy. Why haven't you ever mentioned him?" said Yamato.

"I'm surprised that man is still alive to be honest." She replied, "I thought he didn't make it."

"Oh…" Not wanting to continue the conversation, Yamato kept quiet after that.

They made their way into the second circle which was filled with a garden; lakes, trees, and statues alike. It seemed peaceful and quiet, and definitely not the scene of a massacre.

"Wow…" Sakura huffed, "This place is huge."

"Tell me about it. Was your family, like, rich or somethin'?" Naruto's eyes kept looking around the place as they followed the stone path.

"Well, my grandfather was the Damiyo of the Sanemori clan." Taiga said.

"What?!" Sakura, Naruto, and Yamato yelled in shock.

Scratching the side of her cheek, she blinked a few times. "I told you my grandfather was leader of the clan, Naruto. What did you think I mean?"

"I must've… totally forgot." A nervous laugh croaked out of his throat, which made the samurai glare at him in response.

"That means… You're a heir, right? You're the princess!" Sakura gasped, "You can totally rebuild your clan."

"Uh, no." She shook her head. "My grandfather was the Damiyo, but my mother was a mere princess. My stepfather wasn't certainly, uh, Damiyo material as far as my grandfather was concerned but he was just of good bloodline for the family. My uncle was supposed to inherit single-handedly."

Sakura shook her head, "But everyone died and you're a direct descendant, so that makes you Damiyo by default."

"I honestly don't want to be." Taiga sighed, "It wouldn't make sense and it just, well, it doesn't feel right."

"I understand." The leaf-kunoichi replied, "But that's pretty cool when you think about it, you know."

Continuing on the path, she lead them towards the large doors of the palace. "Well, this is it."

Pushing the brown, wooden door open, the rest of them followed her inside. The atmosphere had certainly shifted into a very solemn and cold vibe. A chill ran down most of their spines but neither one of them said a word.

"Raikage-sama did really clean up the place…" She mumbled, "It looks like nothing ever happened."

Not wanting to let the girl linger onto any memories, Sakura chimed in. "Ah, Taiga! You can show us to our rooms."

"We're not sleeping here." Taiga immediately said, "We'll be staying at the guest house. That place… was untouched." She replied rather quietly.

Naruto and Sakura had slowly looked at one another, worryingly, before watching Taiga do a sharp turn and leading them down the other pathway. The guest house was a comfortable size and everyone had their own rooms and stretching space. When everyone was settled, they had met out in the courtyard of the palace.

"Alright, we're gonna split up. Yamato and I will do our research with the people. So, in case something happens we'll be in the front lines." Kakashi explained, "Sakura and Sai, you take the West and make your way down the South wings. Taiga and Naruto will take the East and make their way up to the North wings, are we clear?"

"Got it." The teenagers said together, giving Kakashi a nod.

"Any clues will be gathered and we'll analyze together." Yamato also added, "Taiga, if you're feeling overwhelmed, please take a rest."

"I'll be fine." Feeling grateful for his warning, she kept her voice stern. "Let's go, Naruto."

**-x-**

There wasn't an exact word that could describe how she felt roaming these halls. It almost felt like she was a ghost, wandering around her own past. The memories she tried to suppress of the place were spilling out of the cracks, but she did well in trying to remain composed around the ever so observant Uzumaki. She could feel his eyes burning holes in her face, trying to detect any signs of what she believed to be was her remembering and allowing herself to get pulled back to such dark memories. Taiga was grateful ( despite not wanting to admit it ) but she didn't need him to coddle her.

"So where are we headin' to first?" He asked, breaking the silence that had lingered a little too long for his taste.

"_You're_ going the library." She said, "We should split the search to cover more ground. And besides, I don't need you breathing down my neck."

Deadpanned, his eyes squinted and narrowed but he was in no mood to argue. "Fine." He gave a shrug of his shoulders as she pointed to the room at the end of the upper hall.

"I'll be down here." She said, pointing to the hall to her right. He nodded and continued forward, leaving her by herself. "Time to look in mother's room." The girl mumbled quietly to herself.

Even though socks were on her feet, her steps were still loud. The floors were probably getting old and so that's why the creaking was more noticeable than she remembered. There was no way the Raikage would completely renovate the place. All he did was have it cleaned, but new floorboards and papering? She doubted it.

As she approached the familiar room, her steps became more slower. The throat tightened and her eyes remained glued to the bottom of the shoji door.

Underneath the door, a pool of blood had came seeping through. It was fresh and new, and the whimpering of a woman was coming from the other side of the door. With eyes wide and a heave, she immediately slid the door open only to see an empty room and the blood stain she thought she saw was gone.

Letting out a long sigh, she shook her head and rubbed her face. She was imaging things, things that weren't real nor happening. It wouldn't have made sense for there to be blood or the sound of a woman. The only girls here were herself and Sakura, so how could that possibly be?

Fully entering the room, she noticed that the futon that belonged to her mother was gone. It was probably too bloody and damaged for them to keep it. The warmth she remembered oozing out of this place she would run to whenever she had nightmares were gone. It felt cold and lonely.

"Tai...ga!"

Startled, her hand immediately went to the handle of Honjo Masamune. Her eyes darted around the room in search for the source of the voice, but she hadn't seen anyone.

With a hesitant step forward, she kept herself on alert. "Tai...ga!" Her feet slowly slowly turned her around, her eyes already wide open in shock.

**Flashback**

_Five years ago..._

It was the first day of summer. The cicadas were wide awake and the birds enjoyed the bright rays of sunlight and the warm weather, their constant chirping of happiness of the new season was loud but comforting. A small girl, age of eleven, had ran through the hall with a wide grin on her face as her bare, small feet pat against the hard wooden floors in an excited rhythm. "'Kaa-sannn~" Her voice rung through the halls, her eyes big and bright with good news at the tip of her tongue. "'Kaaaa-saaaaan~" She called out to her mother.

One door had slid open, a long and slender arm reaching out to notify the younger girl that she was within the room. "Taiga-chan, I'm right here." Skidding into a halt, she made her way towards her mother's room and collapsed in the woman's arms. "Oof!" The woman huffed, surprised and slowly dropping to her knees as the child applied all their weight on her. "What's got you so excited?"

"Yoshitsune-sensei said he's going to make me a sword!" The excitement that emitted from her voice made the woman smile, her blue-grey eyes shimmering with pride.

Taiga had taken a few steps, her eyes gazing up at her mother as the woman's hands were resting on the girl's small, round face. "I am very proud of you, Taiga-chan. You'll be an excellent samurai, but an even better ninja I hope."

She always loved her mother's scent. Her hair was a sandy-blonde but smelled of sunflowers on a warm day. Her skin a rich mocha in contrast of Taiga's olive tone. Maybe it was true that some children had automatically seen their mother as the most beautiful woman in the world because Taiga had certainly had. "I'm doing pretty good with my genin team. We're all, kinda, trying to get used to each other, you know."

That roughly translated into that she was having a hard time adjusting in teamwork than solo projects with children her own age. Most of the people Taiga hung around for her samurai children were teen to grown-ups and so how to behave socialize with children did not come so naturally.

"You'll be fine." Her mother cooed, "My daughter is bright, and she'll find a way. She always does."

If her mother believed in her, that was more than enough for her. "'Kaa-san," her the tone in her voice had dimmed, taking a much serious tone. "The old man has been acting a bit weird lately."

"Ojī-san? Oh, he's just a little stressed is all." Kneeling back down at the small wooden table, her mother picked up her writing brush and continued on with her letter.

"Stressed about what? I thought we've made peace with the Maeda clan so, we've gotten some peace." She questioned.

With a hum, her mother's head slightly tilted. "Well, Ojī-san is worried about something else."

That meant her mother didn't want her to know about it. Taiga could pick up the signs and she decided not to push. "Should I go see him?"

"I'm sure he would like that." Giving her mother a smile, she turned and left from out of the room and back into the hall. He was in the palace to meet with the other generals of both the Maeda clan and their long time ally, the Takeda. Hopefully, he finished all the important business so she could tell him her great news.

The sound of laughter filled the halls, directing her to which way the meeting was held. She made sure to not run because for the love of God, she didn't want to hear him lecturing her for running rampant in the halls. Even though boys were allowed to be rowdy and girls prim and proper, he knew of her father casting aside her femininity for the masculinity of samurai male. So why was it still the he treated her like a girl and not like a boy?

Sliding the door open to the hall filled with samurai of different armors and clan symbols upon their backs, she tiptoed her way towards her grandfather who sat on the higher platform with a small smile and bottle of sake next to his cup. "Ojī-chan." Her voice was hushed, trying to gain his attention only.

The tall and thin man slowly turned his head towards her, his almond-shaped eyes were fully open and his silver eyes looking at her. "Ah, Taiga." Endearingly, his hand rested on top of her head and gave it a ruffle.

Her hair was pulled in the tradition topknot as it always was whenever she was at home. Her bottom lip stuck out in a pout, noticing how he messed her hair up some. "Ojī-chan, 'kaa-san says you've been stressed. What's going on?"

With a hmph and a smirk, he brought his cup to his lips. "A lot of preparations, my dear. We've made long time enemies into allies and so the time calls for lots of celebrations and trading deals."

"Oh…" She nodded understandingly, "So you'll be busy, a lot."

"That's the life of a Damiyo. I have to ensure the greatness that is to be future of the Sanemori." He said.

Clasping her hands together, she gave him a rather toothy grin. "But I have even better news! Something that's gonna help the future of the Sanemori clan too!"

"Is that so?" Placing his cup down, he gave her his full attention. "And what is that?"

"Yoshitsune-sensei is going to be crafting me a sword!" The news she happily wanted to spread flowed out of her mouth.

His eyes widened slightly but then she watched them crinkle in a smile. "Yoshitsune? Minamoto, Yoshitsune is making my grandchild a sword? That must tell me that you are a gift sent from the heavens!"

Gripping onto her shoulders, he gave her a congratulatory and very manly shake. "Are you… proud of me, Ojī-chan?"

"Of course! He is one of the greatest samurai of our time, and for him to acknowledge you this greatly is an honor. Nothing but great fortune has been given to us."

"Aaaaaaaaaack!"

A gurgling, loud scream had shaken through the palace. Taiga had spun around, looking towards the door but her grandfather was already on his feet with an arm in front of her to keep her back. "Taiga, go find your mother."

"But Ojī-chan!" She interjected, "I can fight too! I just need to find a sword and—"

His head turned, his eyes gazing down at her from over his shoulder. "Find your mother." The seriousness in his voice was enough to indicate that she could not disobey him.

Frustratingly, but obediently, she had ran to the sliding doors that led to the engawa as they men prepared to engage in battle. As she stood on the engawa, her eyes trained onto the man who had entered the hall, her eyes had widened. "Yuuma-san?"

The man was covered in crimson liquid. His ghostly, white-hair was completely drenched in blood as blood was speckled all over his haori and hakamas. The tip of his blade was dripping with blood, but she couldn't see the look in his eyes, feral and lack of life as his hair was shielding his face; casting a shadow over his eyes.

Closing the door immediately, she had ran down the wooden platform. "Damn you!" She could hear her grandfather yell, her heart racing as she had turned to look back. In that short time span, the doors of the hall had collapsed as a body flew through them, a mangled corpse that was headless had lain on the ground of the courtyard. There was blood still squirting continuously from its neck with his hand still gripping onto the katana. From the attire and form, Taiga knew it was her grandfather.

Her heart immediately dropped but her feet kept her speeding forward.

When she reached her mother's room, she clung onto her with tears streaming down her eyes. "'Kaa-san! Yuuma-san, he's… he's killing everyone!"

"What?!" Her mother voice rose, startled. "What do you mean he's killing everyone? Yuuma would never—"

"We have to leave! Ojī-chan is dead! Ojī-chan is **_dead_**!" It was hard to breathe then let alone tell her the news that her grandfather, her mother's father, was dead. "Yuuma-san… Yuuma-san decapitated him!"

Biting down onto her lip, she tried to calm herself as well as the crying and trembling girl. "Taiga, you have to listen to me, you have to stay calm and—"

The paper door was kicked down, her mother immediately placing her behind her to shield her. Yuuma, more drenched in blood than Taiga had seen him minutes ago, "Seia!" His voice was throaty, but despite the fact, it boomed within the room.

Taiga clutched onto her mother's kimono, shielding her eyes by keeping them closed. "Yuuma, w-what is this?! W-Why are you doing this?!"

"Why? Why, _she_ says." There was nothing normal about the way he was speaking. The grin that had spread across his face, the way his head was tilted back with his scarlet eyes gazing upat the ceiling. Walking back towards the hallway, he had picked up something and then rolled it into the room, revealing her father's head.

Seia's hand immediately covered her mouth, her eyes wide and brimming with tears at the sight before she forced herself to look away. "Well, I can't say it's _all_ your fault. The old man was much to blame for all of this too."

When Taiga had finally opened her eyes, edging away from her mother to see what Yuuma would do next, she had seen the bare blade of a drawn sword.

"Hahahahahaha!" He stepped forward, sword still drawn as Seia took steps back with her arms still shielding her.

Closing her eyes once more, she whimpered as she heard her mother scream and then Yuuma's high, screeching laugh cutting through it as sharply as his blade. Forcing her eyes open, she had seen her mother's face etched in pain, her back had been injured by the attack.

"Run…" Her voice was wet and croaking, warm blood spilling out of her mouth as Taiga's eyes had noticed the blade poking clean through her mother's abdomen.

Out of shock and out of fear, Taiga's legs gave way and she crumpled the the floor. "'Kaa-san…" She whispered as Yuuma pulled his sword forcibly out of her. The blade fell once again, carving deep lines into her mother's back repeatedly like a butcher with a cleaver.

He had done it all right before her very eyes, watching her as he let the blade fall, cutting deep slits of slips of the blade into her skin as the holes of her kimono showed bleeding, deep and large wounds.

Her mother, still fighting for her life, reached out weakly towards her with a trembling hand. Yuuma had taken one step forward, stepping onto the petite hand hard enough so that the crack of the bones had bounced off the walls all the while gazing down at Taiga's eyes.

Her throat felt as if it was closing up. She couldn't even breathe. Forcing her jaw open, she took a few ragged breaths before forcing herself to her feet and running. Due to the spine tingling, cold fear that burst through her, she could barely stop her legs from giving out every now and then.

Yuuma, whilst following her, was very calm with his steps. He was in no rush, not minding the distance she created between them. As she kept gazing back to look at him, she had tripped over her own feet and crawled against the floor in her continuous need to escape.

His steps had increased then and she had turned around, crawling backwards to make efforts to see him and hopefully dodge whatever attack he sent her way. A hideous grin was on grin on his face, his face looked as if it was split; reminding her of what she always envisioned what a demon would look like. A demon in it's hunter form, excited about the capture and ready to slaughter his prey.

And then there was a flash of light, and the seething pain, he had dipped his blade in the same part of her abdomen as he had done to her mother. Luckily for her, a few of the Sanemori samurais had caught up and captured his attention so that she could pulled the blade out, cutting the palm of her hands in the process.

Able to get to her feet again, she had ran with her hand pressed to her wound to find some place to hide.

**End Flashback**

Naruto's search was, without a doubt, a failure. Not a single thing could he find in that large, dusty, and boring library. He practically fell asleep while looking through anything that looked as if it had something of value. After reading through half of the books and scrolls, he had laid his head down at at table and settled for a short nap. He was sure that Sakura, Taiga, and the others would find something. It hadn't mattered if he hadn't found anything in the end.

He quickly rose his head, smacking his lips and rubbing his eyes. "I'm still kinda tired…" He mumbles to himself. Opening his eyes now, there's a fog and so he settles to rub them again. He notices, through the window, that the sun is setting. "Damn, my nap was too long!"

On his feet, he decided to look for Taiga so that they could meet up with the others. He leaves the library, arms behind his head and his eyes halfway closed. His feet leading him to the direction they had split off earlier. He looks from side to side, checking all the doors until he sees that one is slightly open.

Peeking through the crack, he can't see much of anything and so he settles for just barging right in. "Taiga?" Naruto calls out her name, his eyes looking all over the place. "I don't think she's…"

And then he hears a quiet sob. With a frown, he tries to find where its coming from until he opens what appears to be the closet door.

Quiet settles in. His eyes kept a steady gaze on her form. Her jaw was quaking, her eyes are warm. "I wish you hadn't come here…"

Her voice was scratchy, probably from how sore her throat was from crying. Words couldn't seem to come to him as her cheeks were wet, her nose red.

She's in that mood again.

Her eyes kept staring blankly at the floor. "Leave."

"But—"

"Leave."

'_What am I supposed to do? I don't wanna leave!'_ He thought, _'I can't just walk out or give up!'_

"Leave! I want you to leave—walking out of here; away from me!" She repeats, loudly and more seriously this time.

The blond settles for just looking at her. He's biting his teeth together and his heart's going wild. "Calm the hell down!" She picks up her head from her arms and glares at him. "J-Just... calm down, alright? Calm down, already!"

"You really are an idiot." She said, shifting her gaze away from him.

"Well... Well, you're crazy! Why the hell are you mad at me?! Whaddya want?!" There is no movement what so ever that she was going to leave the closet, but she sprung herself to her feet. She inched close enough that she was breathing on his face.

Whatever Taiga was going to say escapes her and she ends up leaning back, standing up straight, and breathing out. A grimace appears on her face and tears fill up at the side of her eyes. One drops, rolling down her cheek.

Swallowing, he holds his fist tight. Naruto then breathed out through his nose and closed his eyes. Losing himself in thought, _'Everything about this girl is sad. I mean it. She's just damn... miserable__—__and pathetic; she's so—'_

Without a minute's haste, he reached out and grabbed her hand and held onto it.

He was greeted with a stare. Taiga looked at his hand; holds it with both of her and squeezes. Her eyes then locked onto his, "..."

In a way, he saw this was her pleading for help. The girl was just chalked full or pride, but it was obvious that she needed_—_practically wanted_—_his help.

He hadn't thought, not even for a second, that she would respond to his gesture considering how she never seemed fond of closing the gap between them. She was really holding on tight. She looked at their hands and she cuts into his with her nails. "Ow!" He winces.

"..." With his eyes back at her face; she's still staring at his hand. Again, she digs her nails in but he braves through it this time.

Naruto could tell that she was trying her best not to leave this space. This space was her comfort zone midst of the trauma. Naruto may have not been smart, but he knew how she felt. He had his own places to go to for comfort, but being at the heart of what hurt her, this must've been the only place she had to hide. His hand was the bridge for her to leave, but her fear was keeping her in place despite how much she wanted to free herself.

Breathing faster, he's trying to remain calm. After a while, real slow… she does the opposite of what he wanted.

Taiga had let go of his hand, and holding hers up where his was. As she was about to drop it, he toughens up and grabs it again. Now, they had both made eye contact. "Believe in me, got it?!" He reassured her. "You _can_ leave this place. The bastard ain't here, I'll beat him senseless if he thinks he can come after you."

No matter how encouraging and comforting his words were, she doesn't say anything.

Seeing her like that, shaking with fear and panicking just thinking about moving ahead when she stuck in the past… He didn't want it to happen, but his eyes were welling up. He tried not to cry, for her sake.

Taiga loosened up her shoulders, taking her free hand with her hand over her chest. With her eyes closed, she jerks forward. Her foot passes the line between the closet and the room.

Jerking her other foot forward, completely leaving the spot, she steps again and falters. Again, and again, she walks to him.

Next thing he knew, Taiga was embracing him. Shocked, but relieved, he wrapped his arms around her. Her skin warms up all over. She eases into him, weak, and he just brings up one of his hands and pets her on the head.

He was crying. "S'okay now…" he choked, "S'okay, right?" Taiga continued to rest on him, taking away any of the nippling cold in his body.

Breathing out past his ear, she whispers. "Thank you." And he hugs her a little closer, "I'm sorry." Shaking his head, he tried his best not to break down, for his sake and for hers. "Can I stay like this…? Just or a little bit…"

"Y-Yeah! Yeah, you can." After that, she holds him tight, and they don't say anything else.

After a few minutes, Taiga broke the embrace and shifted her gaze elsewhere. First and foremost, she felt embarrassed. Never had she hugged anyone other than her mother and sensei. She just never felt the need, and her comfort was usually internalizing everything until it strayed for her mind.

"You're surprisingly emotional…" Taiga said, her tone teasing as she tried to make light of the situation.

Rubbing the back of his head, he tried to ease his sniffling as well as keep his cool. He eventually admitted, "I-It just really hurt looking at you, that's all."

"Right, right..." She was sure that it did, really: She was quite emotional herself. "I won't lean on you again, alright? That was just one stupid time."

He glanced at her, briefly, and looked rather pensive. Shutting his eyes, he sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I hear ya loud and clear." He opens them, keeping their stare away from her.

With a smirk, she punches his arm lightly with a loose fist. "Let's go to the dojo."

"But what about the—"

"Do you think I want to look for anything after that?" Taiga questioned and he nodded, agreeing. "'Sides, looks like you didn't find shit either."

"O-Oi! I tried." With a frown, he followed after her. It was getting dark though, so he assumed that, that the others would come looking for them anyway.

When she had led them towards the dojo, he was kind of amazed at how spacious it was. There were weapon racks on each wall just about; swords, spears, naginatas, and so on.

Grabbing a wooden sword ( bokken ), she had thrown one towards Naruto and kept one for herself. "I'd like to see how you do."

Catching it, he tilted his head slightly. "You want me to… wing it?" Naruto asked, skeptical and confused.

She gave a nod of confirmation, "You'll have to learn forms but some people are just naturally gifted, y'know."

Gripping onto the handle part tightly, he swung the sword to get a feel of it. He surmised that because this was wooden, it was much lighter than what he figured a real one would be.

"Careful with that." With her eyes closed, she had let out a long yawn. "They can be pretty lethal in the right hands."

"Pfft." He huffed, "This thing? Its just made out of—" With a hiss as he felt something smack the back of his knees, he was swept off his feet with his back hitting the hard floor with a thud. "Ow! What the hell?!"

"I warned you before to always be on your guard." Holding back a laugh, she leaned over him. "I also warned you that these things were lethal in the right hands.."

Squinting his eyes, he furrowed his brows in annoyance. "That's not fair and you know it!"

"Like any opponent is going to be fair." Her brow rose in an arch, "You think Sasuke would be a fair opponent? He's not, trust me."

Extending out her hand, the boy took it with hesitant as she had helped him to his feet. "My sensei would constantly attack me. He said that battle always begin when you're ready, that's why you must always be on your guard." He nodded in reply, she wondered if he would remember the fact for the training to come. "But, whatever, come at me."

Her eyes looked to his wrist, noting how oddly he was holding the bokken. The part that was the blade had pointed down, along his arm. She shifted her gaze away as he launched himself forward.

His arm was unnaturally lower and the angle of the bollen to arm was more acute, cutting into the small space that came between them as he shortened the distance.

Their bokkens had slammed together, it was odd but she almost thought she would've missed the attack. The way Naruto moved the sword was in large, crude arcs while Taiga responded with skill and finesse.

When the swords sprang apart, it was Taiga who found herself pushed back. She was amazed that despite how heavy his attacks were, they were also fast. That seemed quite abnormal for a beginner, but she knew that Naruto was quite skilled with a kunai. In fact, she realized that maybe he was applying that same technique with the sword.

However, she refused for Naruto to be superior when it came to raw power; that was Taiga's strong suit.

In her thoughts, she hadn't realized she gave the boy an opening. He leapt forward, but even caught off-guard, she managed to get the bokken up in time, but the blow had her stumbling back a step or two.

There was quite the angry look on her face. Naruto gave her a rather cocky grin, lifting the bokken at her. "I think I got the basis of this already."

"Tch! Not even a little." Her bokken with through the air, becoming nothing more than a blur. Naruto attempted to catch each blow but a particularly powerful blow from above was too much for him to counter, and he stumbled.

He had no idea that he had given her such an opening, and she would've been a fool if she hadn't taken it. Her foot had rose and swiftly connected to the center of his chest, the force of it sent him tumbling across the wooden floor.

When at least he stopped, his free hand had gripped his chest and coughed. A few more coughs escaped his throat as she shifted her weight to her right foot, her head tilted. "W-What," he coughed a few times and let out a heave, "...the hell, Taiga?!"

"Always be on your guard." She reminded him, "Not everyone with a weapon fights with just their weapon. You have to utilize everything."

A few more coughs rattled his throat, he winced as he tried to labor his breaths. Never in a million years would he guess her legs would be strong as her sword arm. That kick really caught him by surprise.

The tip of her bokken drifted up to point straight at him, "Get up, Uzumaki."

With a groan, Naruto lifted himself up and stumbled a bit. After a few more coughs tearing out of him, he stood firm.

With a sneer, she rose a brow. "Good. That'll be all. We'll work on forms tomorrow."

"I can keep going!" He insisted, she walked towards him and pulled his cheek. "Ouch!"

"Nah, you need a break and you're just flinging that bokken around like a mad man. You better wake up at dawn tomorrow, we're going to practice some swings. In the meantime, let's look for the others and get somethin' to eat."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Finally some Naruto x Taiga fluff! And Naruto's training begins, whoop whoop! I think a reviewer asked if Naruto would learn a new jutsu while learning Kenjutsu, and oh boy am I considering it. I'm kinda all tired out of Rasengan and there's so much more Naruto can do with his chakra natures! Yeah, Rasengan is his signature move, but c'mon, our boy deserves _something_ new.

Also, I'm glad someone spotted that Persona scene. That's like my fave game out of the persona series and I think that scene matches them! Huehue.

Oh! And if anyone is wondering why Taiga's mom kinda just abandoned all jutsus ( I mentioned she was a kunoichi before ), there's a reason for that. Yuuma's sword isn't some ordinary blade. I warned that it was considered cursed, y'know. Seia knew better and stuck with shielding her baby more than anything. Yuuma will be making an appearance soon and all the things he can do will be explained when the time comes.

I also changed nine years into five. I was always at a cross of how old I wanted Taiga to be when the slaughtered happened. I figured seven was too young ( and overused ), which was what I originally planned but later on I changed it to eleven and because she is sixteen, it had to be changed to five.

Not just that, I gotta think of a name for Naruto's sword soon. Should I go with some classic samurai sword ( like I did with Taiga ) or something pertaining to Japanese mythology or something? I know Kishimoto loves using Japanese mythology in stuff, you know, Susano'o, Amaterasu... etc. Even though this is my story, I'm trying my best to be canon as possible and this is just a possibility if Taiga existed and Naruto learned kenjutsu.

I went on a rant here, but anyway! Hope you all liked this chapter! Thanks for all the reviews, faves, and follows. The story is getting popular by the day, and I appreciate all the support ~


	9. Chapter Eight: Kumogakure

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Masashi Kishimoto does!

* * *

It was morning and the sun was beating down heavily upon them, but it wasn't too humid yet it didn't matter since she had a nice glass of refreshing iced tea beside her. On her right was Sakura, wiggling her toes as her palms rested behind her to allow her to sit back. Sai was to her left, drawing whatever came upon his mysterious mind. Kakashi also seemed relaxed with his head buried within his… strange book, and Yamato seemed more entertained by watching Naruto practice.

The look on Naruto's face? Well, it proved how irritated he was. As she said yesterday, his training began at dawn and he had been doing a downward parry for at least four hours now. His footwork had certainly got better and his strikes were strong before but have gotten slower due to how many times she had made him do it until she deemed it as "perfect".

His right foot was slightly forward, the bokken raised above his head before he swung it down by the time his feet was firmly planted. "How…" He panted, "many times…" and another pant, "do I have to do this?"

"Until you get it right." Taiga replied, taking a sip of the cold beverage.

"Is he ever gonna get it right?" Sakura asked, "If he couldn't do it in three hours, is he ever?"

With a snort, she gave a shrug. "Naruto shows promise. There's some things you can and some things you can't pick up right away."

"When will we be going to Kumogakure? Seeing as we couldn't find any information here, that would be the next best place." Sai questioned, "I have no qualms of the quietness of this place, but we do have a mission to complete."

"We should go today seeing as though we found no clues here." Taiga said with a shrug, "Although I have a feeling that Yuuma was here not too long ago."

"Why do you say that?" Yamato questioned, brow raised as her eyes remained glued to the Uzumaki.

"There are a few things missing such as letters my mother kept and received." Her eyes slowly moved to look at Yamato, "Things that she wanted to keep hidden, and things that she wanted to reveal."

Kakashi slowly brought his book down, revealing his lone eye. "Things like what?"

Taiga had only told Naruto that Yuuma was her father. Nobody knew except for herself, her mother, and now Naruto. She didn't want to tell anyone else, and she felt uncomfortable with letter that information known. The mission would certainly change knowing the blood bond between herself and that monster. And she did not want anymore pity from anyone else either, "Clan secrets." She said instead.

She wasn't stupid and she could tell by the look in the Copy Ninja's eye that he wasn't completely buying into her words. Even though it was the truth, it was a clan secret, but she could tell that he knew she knew more than what she was letting on.

"If we're leaving today, we should get our things together." Sakura piped up, slowly getting to her feet. "You would've never guessed what went on here. Its so peaceful…"

It was somewhat insensitive, but Taiga understood what she meant. Despite the memories trying to etch their way back to the forefront of her mind, she did find some peace here. In her religion, the place should be filled with evil, vengeful spirits but she had not felt any. The place, while at times felt oddly cold, had a sense of warmth that embraced her from time to time.

Taiga listened as Sakura went to gather her things, Kakashi and Yamato soon following after with Sai lagging behind since he remained focused on his painting. She took the initiative to approach the Uzumaki, who had beads of sweat raining down like a river from his brow and down to his chin just to drip down onto the courtyard grass.

His panting was heavy but his eyes still seemed blazing with focus. She had to hand it to him, he was being more patient than she thought he would be but she could tell he was biting back his frustrations. "Yo." She casually said, giving a slight wave. "Go gather your stuff, we're going to Kumogakure."

"Already? We just got here not too long ago." Standing up straight, his eyes peered down at her due to their height differences.

Her shoulders moved upward in a slight shrug. "The people don't know anything about Yuuma and I think they are glad that they don't. Also, there was no clues here except for the fact that I noticed some things were missing."

"Huh?!" His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets, "Why didn't ya tell me?!"

"Ssshhh!" Taiga leaned forward as she shushed him, lowering her tone a little above a whisper. "You're the only one I've told that Yuuma was my father to."

Stunned seemed to be a word that wasn't strong enough to describe his reaction. "W-Why didn't you tell anyone else?" He asked, "Why did you only tell me?"

In all honesty, she wasn't sure why she told Naruto that. It could've been the fact she had been harboring such a secret like that for a long time that she felt relieved to share it with someone else that was alive. "I'onno." Her eyes averted his, "But whatever, it doesn't matter, I only told you. And the letter my mother was going to send him about me being his daughter has mysteriously vanished."

"Do you think…?" His voice trailed off, almost unsure if he wanted to ask.

"I think so." The kunoichi-samurai already knew. This means that Yuuma had to know because who else would steal it? Although it could be the case that while the Raikage sent someone to clean up the place that they raided around and took anything of importance, but she was sure the Raikage would've alerted her of it.

There was no better way ease her suspicions until they went to the Cloud Village. "Just don't say anything, okay?"

"I won't. I promise." A smile wanted to fight its way on her face, feeling reassured by the sincerity of his voice. Her eyes gazed back over to him as he gave her a lopsided grin.

Her hand hesitantly reached out but suddenly took the form of a fist to lightly punch his shoulder. "You've got the downward parry right, finally. You just need to loosen up your grip a little. When you hold a sword, you hold as if it you're gripping a tea cloth; not too tight but not too loosely."

The boy's eyes squinted in confusion, a frown now on his face. "W-What? Tea cloth? Man, that's confusing."

Suppressing a laugh, she opted for a sigh. "You see, when you hold onto it too tightly you're liable to be thrown with it. If someone overpowers you in strength, you'll be like a bird and fly with the sword in your hands. If you hold it too loosely then it's likely to get knocked outta your hand, you get me?" His nod was slow, but she was sure he was processing it in that brain of his. "So, you have to find a balance between tight and loose."

"Ah, I got ya." His nod was fervent, "Uh, where did everyone else go?"

"To pack their things. We're going to Kumo." Stretching her arms above her head, she let out a long, overdue sigh. "You should be too."

Taking a few steps away from him, she was going to head into the room she occupied but she felt a hand wrapped around her wrist; stopping her from all movement. Her eyes traveled to Naruto's hand and then up his arm and at his face, wondering why he was stopping her. "What?"

"It's just…" Naruto seemed hesitant, "y'know, well, how are you going to deal if _that_ bastard knows you're his kid?"

In actuality, Taiga was hoping that the man didn't know. In fact, she tried to forget the fact whenever she thought about it. She liked to think that her stepfather had been her actual father and that her mother had lied. "What do you mean how am I going to deal? Tch, it's not like he's gonna _suddenly_ want some father-daughter time."

The girl was becoming easy to read. He could see the uneasiness and he could feel her slightly shaking within his grasp. His instinct was to calm her, but he knew she would just get angry instead if he continued to pry. So, his hand let go of her wrist.

"Y'know, we're in this together. We're..." His voice softened some, but it was still serious enough to keep her attention. "We're a team.'

Normally, she would've been dismissive and tell him to bug off with that whole "team" business. It felt odd not having that need to do so now. "Whatever." She opted to say, rubbing her neck out of anxiousness. "Just… go get your stuff, you lame." She was given a grin, "And keep that bokken with you so you can keep practicing.."

Without a word, Naruto had ran off towards the guest house and thus leaving her alone in the empty courtyard. With her arms behind her and her head tilted back, her eyes looked towards the sky. The direction of the sun revealed that the afternoon was nearing, and so they had best walk fast without any breaks.

**o**O**o**

Maybe it was just today, but the air felt cold and bitter. It would nip at you every now and then, but the sun, whenever it wasn't shielded by the clouds, would warm you. The village lived up to it's name entirely; there were mountains and valleys that stretched on, dry of any snow as homes were made, spiraling along the outside of the rocky texture. There were valleys and rivers glittered all over the place, and so the smell of water mixed with mist filled your nostrils. It felt like a culture shock to Naruto and Sakura, who looked at the place in awe. It felt odd to Taiga to be back here since it had been such a long, long time since she stepped foot in this place.

"Finally, they arrive." said Shi, eyes squinting in annoyance. "You should've been here days ago."

Aggravated, Taiga tilted her head back to look at the blonde, older shinobi with a flat expression. "Tch, you should be lucky I'm here at all. I wanted to do this mission by myself, thank you very much."

"Sorry, Taiga." Darui chimed in as they all gathered around the gate. "Shi was just bored by the lack of work to do the past couple of days."

She gave them a shrug. "That ain't my problem."

With a grunt, Shi was ready to engage in a heated argument with Taiga's for her lack of respect of rank but Darui gave him a look to calm his temper. "We'll take you to where you'll be staying and informing you of what we learned before you came."

"There was a Yuuma sighting?" Kakashi asked, "The Sanemori villagers couldn't tell us much of anything."

"I've also noticed that some important letters have been missing from the palace as well." Taiga added, "Unless Raikage-sama took 'em then it was most likely Yuuma."

Darui's brows raised in surprise. "When Raikage-sama sent people to clean, he did not report for anything to be taken. The business of samurai have nothing to do with us shinobi."

"Even though Seia was a kunoichi, she wasn't allowed to share any information to the clan about shinobi business so we knew better than to believe she would have." Shi said with his eyes fixated ahead of them. "She was an honorable woman."

Since they passed the gate, they were in the bustling market area of the town. "I know this is some important stuff, but I'm starvin'." Naruto groaned, his hand rubbing a circle against his stomach. "All I had was rice for breakfast after being drilled for hours!"

His blue eyes shot a glare towards Taiga, who on purposely kept her eyes averted away from him. She even began whistling. "Naruto, we have more important things to worry about than food." Sakura sighed, "Leave it to the idiot to have his mind somewhere else."

"We can eat and chat. This is our lunch break, isn't it, Shi?" The look on Shi's face had shown he wasn't willful to this break but Darui's smile made him relent. "Fine. C'mon."

"Are we going to where I think we're going~?" Taiga's eyes glittered with a sense of happiness, seemingly hyped.

With a grin, Shi also let out an arrogant snort. "Of course."

Naruto as well as the rest of the leaf ( save for Sai ) looked quite perplexed as Shi and Taiga led the way towards a restaurant. Naruto's eyes gazed up at the sign, squinting as he read, "Chihana?"

Taiga, who was beside him as everyone entered, sighed happily. "This place has the best food."

Naruto wasn't completely sold just yet, but he had no other option than to give the place a try. No matter what, no place could compete with Ichiraku.

Everyone gathered at a large table. Taiga had sat next to Shi and Darui while all the leaf ninja were on the opposite side. It felt like a division, at least that's what Naruto thought; why hadn't she sat next to him? She always did so before.

"So, let's get down to business." Yamato said since they finished ordering what they had wanted, "What has Kumo found?"

Shi took the initiative to speak first. "Yuuma has been spotted."

Taiga flinched upon that, and Naruto easily caught it as she kept her eyes fixated on the table. "Apparently, he has created a following."

"A following?" Yamato echoed, "So you mean he has allies?"

"Precisely." Darui chipped in, "We've encountered one, Ryuuji. If you remember him, Taiga."

"Of course I remember the prick that fucking poisoned me." She replied bitterly, "I'mma rip him a new one when I see him."

"Then there's a girl and another male. We don't have their names, but that's all we have on that. Sorry." Darui apologized to Taiga.

Giving him a miniature smile, she shook her head. "That's more than enough, but you have more, don't you?"

"Hopefully an objective." said Kakashi, "We have no idea what or who he is after."

Shi shook his head. "We don't know that either, but we do know that he has been looking for something at least."

"What do you mean?" Sakura spoke up, "Is there a pattern about the places he has attacked?"

Shi gave a nod, "All of them had some connection to the Sanemori clan, whether it be allies or enemies at one point in time."

"But… why?" Taiga's head shook in confusion, "He got whatever he wanted by killing us… So why does he want to destroy them?"

The table fell silent, everyone trying to figure it out. "There's something more to this." Kakashi concluded, "We won't figure it out until we possibly confront him."

It seemed like the most logical thing. If Taiga had no clue what vendetta Yuuma was having with all these samurais than how would they know? "We can try to capture one of his subordinates and get information out of them too." Yamato said, "I doubt Yuuma is willing to reveal himself to us just yet."

"Taiga," Her eyes met up with Kakashi's dark eye, "is there anything you remember during the attack?"

"Huh? What do you mean?" She questioned.

He remained relaxed, his voice comforting as if he was trying ease her into remembering without triggering her. "Do you remember anyone there that seemed out of place?"

Taiga shook her head. "No," she answered, "but I do remember that my grandfather was having a meeting with the Maeda clan and the Takeda clan."

Shi and Darui looked at Kakashi, both of them trying to figure out where he was going with this. "They are allies of the Sanemori, right?"

"Maeda was a new-time ally, but Takeda was a long time one. Us, the Sanemori, and Takeda had a life long alliance based on marriage." She nodded, remembering that much. "We fought the Maeda clan before, but we came together to defeat the Imagawa."

Kakashi eyes then went alight, "And what do you propose they were having a meeting about?"

Now she understood where he was going. Her eyes widened a fraction for a few seconds before closing them, trying to figure that out herself. "He wouldn't say…"

"Whatever happened in that meeting might be important." Kakashi went on to say, "And the fact that we know nothing about it takes us two steps back."

Taiga hung her head, her shoulders slumped. If only had been just a little more nosy that day then maybe she would have just a whiff of a clue. "Don't worry about it." Her eyes open, looking towards Naruto's blue ones.

"We're gonna find out and we're gonna hunt Yuuma down." Was that supposed to lift her mood? Taiga snorted and shifted her gaze, but she couldn't fight to smile that soon came onto her face.

"Whatever, Uzumaki." She muttered as the table was being filled with their orders.

Taiga was happy to see some steamed dumplings and couldn't hold herself back from taking a bite out of one. It instantly warmed her up and made her tongue bathe in all the rich flavors.

"Still a dumpling fanatic, huh?" Shi commented, who seemed all too happy while eating his Unagi. "I guess some things don't change."

Her eyes narrowed into a glare. "What's that supposed to mean?"

The corner of his mouth moved upward in a slight smirk, his eyes slit-closed. "Ah, you know, you were much sweeter as a kid."

Naruto's head piped up, his face away from the steaming hot bowl of Champon; the noodles were dangling from his lips. "Taiga? Sweet?!" He said in disbelief, mouth full of food.

"Baka, chew your food before you speak!" Sakura scolded him, her face contorted in disgust. "Sheesh."

The kunoichi-samurai's face immediately heated in embarrassment, a red tint trying to spread across his face. "I-I don't what you're talking about!"

"Ah, you know." He leaned forward rather menacingly then teasingly. "You used to follow me around, and give poor ole' Bee a hard time."

"I can't believe you're trying to say I tortured Bee! He's torture itself with his teasing and Enka rap!"

All the leaf ninjas were left in confusion, their eyes dancing from Shi to Taiga and back and forth during the Kumo nins spat. Naruto was still stuck on the fact Shi knew a much more sweeter side of Taiga's complex personality.

Darui decided to speak to the leaf nins while the two were distracte. "Anyway," He grabbed their attention, "After our meal, I'll escort you to where you'll be staying. The Raikage is quite busy, so I doubt we'll be seeing him any time soon."

"Busy?" Yamato questioned, "Is something going on?"

Shi pulled himself out of his petty argument with Taiga, his dark eyes looking at Darui. "I suppose you know of the Akatsuki, don't you?"

The table had gone quiet. "Yes," Kakashi answered, "we do, but not much."

"We're deciding how we're going to deal with them." Taiga could tell Darui wasn't going to tell too much information, and the reason why he only spoke of the Akatsuki was to give a taste instead of introducing the whole reasoning.

Kakashi left it at that, giving a simple nod. He knew better than to pry into the internal affairs of another village. He knew eventually that the shinobi villages would have to decide together how to take on the Akatsuki.

Instead of letting silence take its toll, Taiga spoke up. "Naruto," his eyes gazed upon her, "you're not done practicing. You'll be coming with me to train."

Shi and Darui looked at the two in confusion. "Train?"

She shifted her eyes towards Shi and Darui. "Naruto wants to learn Kenjutsu."

"Ahh…" said Darui, "Good luck with that with Taiga as your sensei."

Sakura couldn't help but chuckle at the deadpanned look on the girl's face. "And what's _that_ supposed to mean?!"

"You don't have to tell me twice. My arms already feel like they're gonna fall off cuz of her." Naruto sighed, eyes closed and his shoulders slumped. He could feel her eyes burning holes into him but he stood by what he said.

"You brought it upon yourself, baka." The pink-haired girl rolled her eyes, "You're the one who said you wanted to learn."

With a chuckle, the dark-skinned shinobi had tried to clean up the negative effects of his words. "Sorry." He said his usual apology, "Taiga is very disciplined; she was always a natural with a sword, but she just doesn't have the patience or tolerance for teaching."

Even though she knew he was right, she still didn't like hearing him saying. "Pfft, like you're a great teacher. I'm a better teacher than you."

"You probably are." He nodded, "I was never fit to teach."

**o**O**o**

Once everyone was full and the meal was paid for, Darui and Shi had taken the group to the inn that would be staying. The sign read in bold letters "Hasuwa Inn". Taiga never remembered this place, but she hardly needed an inn while she was last in Kumo. Besides, there were natural hot springs that one could go to for free than to actually pay.

Taiga was more grateful that the place was close to the training area. Now Naruto and herself wouldn't have to walk so long just to practice. He also seemed quite amped about training too, which seemed odd since he fussed so much about it earlier. But because he was naturally psyched about it now, it somewhat made her happy; more than somewhat, but she was trying to not let his easygoing happiness rub off on her.

They had done simple drills for the first three hours to get Naruto in tune with what steps held importance. He did a good job so far and she didn't really have any complaints aside from the fact that he rushed things, moving too quickly due to his lack of patience. Although the ends results would be sloppy sometimes, it was at least promising.

Even now, the Uzumaki gripped tightly to the bokken since she scolded him about touching one of the actual katanas in the weapon rack. He pouted, muttering under his breath, but he abided by her rule. At least he wasn't overbearingly stubborn or else they would fight more than they would train.

Grabbing a bokken herself, she twirled it around. "Alright, now we're gonna spar for a bit."

"Like before?" He asked, his eyes shimmering with excitement.

"Not really." In matter of seconds, his excitement left as soon as it came. "But I want to see what we've practiced in action."

He seemed okay with that, for the most part. And he moved closer so that they weren't too close but not too far. Taking the first strike, he moved the sword in a curved line to make an unbroken parry, striking it continuously at her. Taiga kept the pressure, taking a step backwards in a quick yet strong-like manner, which had thrown Naruto off. It made him unable to attack quickly and place both of them in close body positions. He pushed down her first with the base of the bokken but she pushed a step backwards with her left foot. He was beginning to see why footwork was important even though it felt hard to remember all of it.

To get her off guard, he settled for a one arm strike, he turned his right wrist upward that made the sword turn in a slight diagonal. Although the technique was advanced, she was glad he learned that on his own. He only missed her by a few hairs but the fact that he used it in the right fashion left her impressed. Naruto settled for a downward parry, he noticed how effective it was and seemed to disrupt a person's balance but left your opponent open for a counterattack. Taiga was good with those, so he had to learned when it more effective to use them against her.

So, with both hands wrapped around the handle, he waited until he saw her bokken coming straight down, with a downed sliding motion, he parried it. Seeing her surprise, he grinned as he stepped to the right as he tried to keep her sword forced down. As he expected her arms began to fully extended, which made him force her bokken up and out of her hands.

"Wow, Naruto." Her eyes looked to the bokken lying on the ground, "I'm impressed."

A rosy tint spread across his face, but he fought it away while rubbing the back of his head with his hand. "Heh, this is starting to get natural to me." He said, "Its like, you have to think a little more. Thinking isn't my strong suit, but I'm getting the hang of it."

What she practically heard was that he wasn't a strategist, which she understood. Not all the greatest samurai had a brain, but Naruto wasn't an idiot when he actually put his mind to it. Then again, what did she know? From the little time she had known him him, his wits were stronger with people.

"I haven't noticed how late it got." Her eyes looked up to the night sky, glittered with stars and a moon in bright crescent.

He hadn't noticed either until she mentioned it, his head tilting back to look at the sky above them. "Can we get a break then? Also, I'm pretty hungry."

"Yeah, I guess we practically skipped dinner." Even her own stomach felt empty from skipping a meal. "Let's go get something to eat."

"It has been a long time..."

Taiga had no time to be surprised by the voice. Instead, she realized that Naruto was there and then the next he wasn't. He flew several yards through the air, then landed hard on the ground, slid another few feet and laid still.

"Naruto!" Her feet forced her to move towards him.

"Just where do you think you're going?"

And this time, she froze. That cold, flat voice…

In the same instant that she had recognized the voice, an arm snaked around her neck and pulling her towards him. The glint of the blade flicked in the moonlight, and it was near her neck, which she hope was for fear than for purpose.

"Urgh!" She struggled, but his grip felt as hard and immobile as a large beam of steel. "Let me go!"

"What business do you have with Leaf Shinobi? You're a samurai, a Sanemori." His voice was like a cold breath in her ear, and she could faintly hear the sneer in his tone. "They will betray you. Once they know everything, they will betray you."

She was at a loss for words. Truly confused, but mostly angry, she continued to struggle in his grips.

"Heh." Her eyes immediately gazed towards Naruto, who happened to have a katana in his hand. "Takes balls to break into a ninja village, and I admit, you got me pretty good."

"Naruto! Don't you even try to—" The blade moved upward, the cold and sharp blade touching the skin of her neck.

The white-haired man's head slowly moved in a downward tilt. "You have no idea, do you?"

"No idea of what, old man?" Raising the sword, he pointed it towards her. "The only thing I know is that you need your get your hands off her!"

His grip hadn't wavered. "Naruto, get away! You can't fight him!"

"Like hell I'mma let him take you away!" Her eyes narrowed sharply as she continued to push and pull backwards to escape him, but Yuuma wouldn't budge. It was as if all her attempts were for naught. He was too strong, much stronger than she expected. "Ahhhhh!" Naruto yelled as he brought the sword down in a hard toward Yuuma. From how swift and forceful it was, Taiga thought she could hear the wind whistle past the blade as it moved.

At the very last moment, Yuuma turned to the side, and the sound of steel on steel exploded into the air and right into Taiga's ear. It surprised her as she felt the shudder of Yuuma's body even as the clang turned into hard metal grinding of sword sliding against sword.

Sparks flew, and Naruto leapt back and struck again. Again, Yuuma's sword flickered up and intercepted it. "I have to say, I'm somewhat impressed." He said with mild amusement, "Especially since you're a Leaf Shinobi."

"Shut up and let her go, you bastard!" Naruto let the sword tore down the air again, his face the picture of pure ferocity, which even chilled her upon the sight of it.

There was a reddish glow around him too, which worried her. It had to be the Kyuubi, right? Why else would the boy be outline in red with his nearing a red hue.

She had to save him, somehow.

Yuuma blocked his strike, but with Taiga in one arm, it was impossible for him to go on the offensive. "Let her go!" The blond demanded once more.

"Guuh?!" From the sheer power of Naruto's next blow, it drove Yuuma back a few precious steps.

Suddenly, Taiga was thrown to the side, away from Yuuma. Without Taiga in his grasp, Yuuma was free to fight with both hands. Knowing Naruto couldn't fight Yuuma at his strongest, Taiga had to jump in.

Grabbing the hilt of her sword, she charged forward towards Yuuma who was pushing Naruto back with ease. She could see tears into the boy's clothes, which meant that he had been cut a few times but luckily not stabbed. It amazed her how he was able to withstand the man's onslaught.

Yuuma's eyes darted towards her and while Naruto tried to shift the focus on him, the white-haired samurai opted to casually kick out his foot, which hit her in the center of her chest. The force of it caused her to fly back and roll until she had rolled down the side of the small valley and into the shallow water of the river.

Seeing her fly across the air, Naruto ran towards her, leaving Yuuma, who took the opportunity to walks towards the ledge. Naruto had lifted her up, the red outline and hue that threatened to consume him was gone and his blue eyes were filled with worry.

"She's still alive, for now." He gave a smug smile towards the blond-haired boy.

"What do you want from her? What's your deal?!" He immediately questioned, lifting Taiga so that she sat up in his arms with her head leaning against shoulder.

"In order for things to be as they should be, she'll have to die." Although it still left Naruto confused, his hold on her tightened. "There will be no Sanemori, and hardly any samurai left once I'm through. You should thank me."

And with that, he turned around and left; completely vanishing from what Naruto felt like was thin air.

"Ugh…" She grumbled, her hand immediately pressing against her chest slightly below her collarbone.

"Taiga," He called her name and watched as her eyes slowly fluttered open, "he's gone."

"Gone?!" Immediately she forced herself up, hissing afterwards. "You should've… went after him." She coughed a few times once the ache in her chest hit her with full force.

Naruto shook his head, "He showed himself for a reason, and we know it won't be the last."

Her eyes loosened their hardened stare as she let out a sigh. "What did he say?"

"Somethin' about killing you and killing all samurai." He said, "He said things will be as they should if he did that."

Her hands pressed against the side of her head, trying to soak all of that in. "...No more samurais? But why? That doesn't make any sense."

"Taiga, don't stress yourself about it now." He scolded, "You need some rest." Lifting her up in his arms, he watched as she reluctantly relaxed. Her eyes fell close as he walked back towards the inn.


	10. Chapter Nine: What It Means

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Masashi Kishimoto does!

* * *

**Flashback / Dream**

T_he smell of fresh grass was so clear and the sounds of birds chirping in the distance felt familiar. The rustle of the leaves as the wind blew had almost felt like home. In the center of the meadow, a man who had not aged a day over thirty had sat there with a young girl by his side. His hair was spiky, short save for the long ponytail that reached his waist. The ribbon around his head swayed along with his hair in a dance the wind created. And out of this simply joy, Taiga remembered the swell of peace that flowed through her veins._

_"Yoshitsune-sensei." She took it upon herself to interrupt their meditation, but he always wanted her to ask questions when they came to mind. If she saw no solution then it was better to ask than be without answer._

_His eyes hadn't opened, but his ears heard her call his name. "What bothers you, Taiga?"_

_"Should a warrior be fearless?" Her eyes kept their steady gaze on him, "that way they have no weakness? How could their enemy kill them if they have no fear?"_

_A sound similar to a chuckle slipped past his lips, her eyes squinted as she had seen the shake of his shoulders. "Fear is a fickle thing among us samurai." Her eyes relented on their angry stare and widened in curiosity. "Samurai are taught that the only true fear is to become a warrior that doesn't know fear." His eyes finally opened, the hazel pupils now staring at her. "And it is also taught that if you fear death then you will die or that if you fear death then you will fight for survival."_

_With a pout, she began to massage her temples. "That's confusing."_

_He chuckled before laying his hand atop of her head, giving it a ruffle. "Samurai are a paradox, Taiga. It is how you choose to be that will make you into something great."_

_"Somethin' great, huh?" Her eyes fell close in a eye-smile, "I'd like to be somethin' great."_

_"All it takes is courage and a will." If there was one thing she loved about her sensei, it was that he always encouraged her dreams. "But do you remember what I told you are the highest attributes of a human soul?"_

_Biting down on her lip, she tried to recall the memory. "Uh… Valor and benevolence?"_

_"It's more than those two." A deadpanned expression took over his face as a nervous laugh clawed itself out of her throat. "I said that: "Valor, when at its peak, is akin to benevolence, the feeling of distress, love, magnanimity, affection of others, and sympathy and pity. They are the highest attributes of a human soul." Do you remember now?"_

_Sucking her teeth, her arms folded across her chest. "How am I s'pposed to remember all of that? I can barely remember what I had for breakfast this morning."_

_Unamused, a chop landed squarely on top of her head and she was left hissing and rubbing the area she was hit. "Remember it now, and remember it well. I will not always be here, Taiga. I cannot hold your hand into battle, so try to remember all that I have taught you."_

_"You say this as if you'll go away." Her eyes peeked over at him, her hands still caressing atop of her head to soothe the pain away. "You'll always be where I can find you, right?"_

_A smile tugged its way on his lips, "Of course, but I am a man; I can't possibly live forever, Taiga."_

_A hint of sorrow came across her heart at his words. Taiga liked to believe that her sensei would always live, and always be around._

**End Flashback / Dream**

It was difficult to sit in this room and be left alone to go over the events of last night over and over again in her head. The fact that Yuuma showed his face and she hadn't exact her revenge right then and there had left her furious. How she managed to keep her calm last night was beyond her. How she shriveled up in fear had annoyed her. She allowed him to capture her, render her useless, and her sword was by her side the entire time but she was afraid. She was a coward.

In her bones were the memories of what transpired all those years ago and they had her stuck. Instead of fighting for her freedom with just her body, she could've easy escaped with her sword. Every mistake she had made burned its way into her memory to serve as a reminder to not make those same mistakes again.

Another thing she kicked herself for was the fact that Naruto could have died. Of course, he held his own surprisingly well but that was because Yuuma was not giving his complete self in that fight. He was holding back, which was so far from her comprehension. Why didn't he kill them? He easily could have, but he only came to relay a message that Shi, Darui, and the other leaf ninjas were trying to decode.

Still sulking, she pulled her legs to her chest and rested her chin in-between her knees as her eyelids lowered halfway and her eyes stared at the floor in thought. Why did he want to kill all the samurai? What good would that do? Crime would just implode and all the heavy responsibility of the ronins that would be made would be pushed heavily upon the ninjas. They already had enough grief on their hands with their own problems. They shouldn't be forced to be entangled with the mess between samurai.

Maybe he just wanted to destroy the balance between samurai and ninjas? To send the world into complete chaos. He was evil enough; it was believable enough, but her gut didn't quite believe it just yet. Did anything Yuuma do make sense anyway? He was just crazy, right? She should just dismiss his thinking because there was no way to understand him.

The door to her room had slid open, revealing a very cheerful Naruto. Her eyes stared at him in confusion, but then looked away in shame and guilt. How could she be his teacher? He could've died by the hands of Yuuma. "Mornin'!" His voice filled the room with a tray of breakfast in his hands. Was it her or did it suddenly feel warmer with his presence? Maybe it was just the steam of the food playing tricks on her.

He plopped down next to her, aggravatingly so, as she kept her eyes focused away from him. "What do you want, Uzumaki?"

Confused, his brow arched as his head slightly tilted. "What's your problem?" He asked, not all too enthused to deal with her random mood swings.

"What's my problem?" Taiga echoed, infuriated by the question. Her head whipped towards him, eyes ablaze. "You could've gotten yourself killed, you idiot!"

Ah. He wasn't surprised anymore, but in fact grateful she cared enough about his well-being. "I was fine. Besides, you saw that cool stuff I did with the katana? I'm totally ready for my own, dattebayo~"

How could he managed to smile and be carefree when a serial killer could've ended him last night? "You really are crazy." Taiga reeled, sighing heavily. "You could've died."

"Nah." He shrugged, "If things didn't go as planned with the sword, I would've rasengan his ass."

"Rasengan?" Taiga repeated, confused but intrigued. "You have a special technique?"

His nod was fervent as well as childish yet she had to bite down on her lip not to show a smile of amusement from it. "Sometimes I forget you're a ninja. You're so reckless sometimes…"

Offended, his eyes drooped and squinted. "H-Hey, I am not reckless!"

"Sure." She replied sarcastically before looking towards the window. "Thank you, though, for… saving me."

At first, he thought he heard wrong. He even dug his finger into his ear to clean it because he was sure he misheard. "Uh, what? Did you just… I'onno, thank me?"

Annoyed, her eyes rolled and she laid back down on her futon. "Forget I said anything, you numbskull!"

"Hey! I'm not a numbskull!" Naruto argued, "But… no need to thank me. We're a team, I told ya before."

Ah yes, that "team" word again. Taiga was most certainly not used to it still, given the fact that before she could be signed into her genin team… the massacre had happened. She never knew what it was like unless she counted the times where she was assigned missions with Sasuke, Karin, and Suigetsu from time to time. Their team dynamic wasn't exactly the best and not often enough for her to get used to them. Sasuke was a horrible partner too. He wanted to do everything himself and hardly left any work for anybody else while at the same time called you a "lackey" or "slouch". She still missed those times though.

She mumbled, "I know."

"You should, uh, eat." He pushed the tray toward her, his eyes studying her as she sat back up and looked down at the tray. She took the bowl of white rice, picking up clumps of rice with little to no enthusiasm.

Naruto watched her eat, his the soles and heels of his feet together as he began to wait patiently. The look on his face proved that he wanted to talk but she wasn't sure if she wanted to. In fact, Taiga was sure she liked that look of boredom on his features. He was just itching to say something.

Her eyes then looked towards the tamagoyaki ( rolled omelet ) and cut into it with the chopsticks to separate a bite-sized piece. Her magenta eyes occasionally glanced at Naruto as he seemed to be staring into nothing with such a dull expression. Eventually, he would want to leave right? If she wasn't going to entertain him, he would have to be entertained elsewhere but a part of her was a little bit hesitant on letting him leave.

The blond wanted to speak, he was practically going to die if he sat in silence. The only sounds he could hear was her soft chewing and the occasional sip of miso she would take now and then. He wasn't sure what he had expected for coming in with breakfast. Maybe some praise? Yes, he wanted to hear praises for the skill he had done with an actual katana. Why wasn't she praising him? Why wasn't she speaking to him?

Did he do something wrong? Had he irritated her somehow? Why was she so hard to read and so hard to befriend? It was starting to grate on his nerves, but Naruto wasn't one to give up. No, he fought his way through everything and he was damned if Taiga was going to shut him out forever.

They hugged before. She relied on him, in a way nobody ever did before. Naruto couldn't forget that look on her face as she struggled to not get lost in her memories of her traumatic past. The way she let him be the one to guide her away from it; an escape and comfort. The memory of it all made him blush from time to time. He never embraced a girl like that before. Were all girls just soft and warm? Her hair felt nice too. He was sure she hadn't taken care of it like Sakura and Ino had, but it still felt soft and there was even a hint of cinnamon in the scent.

Taiga smelled sweet yet spicy; the kind of smell that was overpowering up close but comforting from afar. In fact, her whole personality seemed like that, but the sweetness of her he had seen in small doses and heard from others. He wasn't sure why but he felt envious of that. During that meal with Shi and Darui, and seeing Shi and Taiga talk so comfortingly and teasingly made him angry. It was as if he wanted to pull her away, force her to his side right then but it felt stupid and childish to do that. Besides, he was sure he would've heard an earful if he had.

"Thanks for bringing me breakfast." Her voice tore him from his thoughts, his blue eyes now on her form as she closed her eyes and released a soft sigh. "I ate most of it."

His eyes then traveled to the tray to see a few seaweed, an empty bowl of rice, a little of bit of miso, and a tiny bit of tamagoyaki left. She ate the pickles, surprisingly so.

"No problem." He gave her a small smile, opting not to bother her too much since she seemed to be in an odd mood today. "I'll just take this back."

His hands went to the handles of the tray to lift it up but her petite hand rested on top of his as if to cease him from his movements. His eyes widened before darting directly at her, "You don't have to leave."

"Uh… w-why not?" He could kick himself for stuttering, and for feeling odd as his heart beating wildly in his chest cavity. Why was he so nervous suddenly? What could she have possibly meant?

Her lips parted to speak but then closed. Her eyes seemed clouded with something, but he couldn't read them. She then repeated the process, but said something this time. And he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to hear it, his heart seemed to be beating so loud that he could hear it loudly in his eardrums. "Did Kakashi and the others decipher Yuuma's message?"

And like that, Naruto felt as if he turned into stone; not even stone but dust that the wind could surely, and hopefully, blow away and scatter within it.

Why was he so disappointed just now?

"Tch," sucking his teeth, his eyes looked away from her and stared randomly at something. "They haven't."

Nodding, she took his word for it. "I see. We'll have to start training again soon. I'm sure the village is on the alert since Yuuma was here."

"I know, I know." Naruto sighed, "But when am I gonna get my own katana? I showed that I deserve one last night."

"Impatient much?" Of course, she was teasing but he hadn't realized it. "You'll get it when I deem you ready, Uzumaki."

Picking up the tray, she heard a mumble of curses slipping past his lips as he left and she couldn't help but chuckle at that.

**o**O**o**

Several weeks had gone by and Naruto had noticed Taiga's constant disappearances. One minute she was around, and the next she was gone. Since there was no sightings of Yuuma at the time, he knew she wasn't endangering herself but he couldn't help but feel upset over the fact that she was hardly around. Out of boredom, he took some errands from Darui whenever he had the chance to keep himself active and to not fret over what Taiga seemed to be doing. At one point, he was sure that following her might be a good idea but opted out since that was too creepy and she would likely get mad if she caught him.

He also couldn't help but be a little green about it because Shi would mysteriously disappear around the same time as well. Had they run off together? If so, why? Why would they need to be together? It was really getting under his skin, but he knew that Taiga was secretive and so asking her about it would lead to argument, which he didn't want. He wanted less arguing and more talking. If he played his cards right, she would trust him more; at least that's what he thought would happen.

Also while she was away, he went onto a strict training. He knew that practicing long hours gave greater results, no matter how tiring it was. And there were also some techniques that he needed to perfect. Next time, Yuuma wouldn't be able to push him back.

Around the end of the last week, news had broke out that a sighting of Yuuma was near the land of fire and Tsunade messaged them to return in case another village was attacked or if he boldly showed up in Konoha. They hadn't done anything ( whether it was Yuuma or his subordinates ) but were probably scaring people and causing rumors, probably to put people on high alert or gain their attention. Maybe they were tired of surprised attacks too, Yuuma had to be sure that nearly all samurai were ready for an attack now.

When they met at the gates of Kumogakure, Taiga was nowhere in sight and neither was Shi. And Naruto found himself borderline furious and antsy. "Where the hell is she?!"

Sakura, Sai, Kakashi, and Yamato had looked over to him, surprised by his outburst of anger. "Be patient, baka." Sakura scolded him. "She's not a kid, you can't keep tabs on her."

"I know that!" He didn't want to yell but he couldn't play it off as if he was calm either. "Its just… she hasn't been around in _weeks_. What could she be doing?"

With that mischievous closed-eye smile that Sai was famous for, he leaned towards Naruto. "Are you… _worried_, Naruto?" He asked.

"N-No! Why would I be worried? Taiga can take care of herself." With a huff, he looked away.

Sai would not relent, "If you know that then why are you angry? Do you miss her?"

Now his face was borderline red from a mixture of anger and embarrassment. "Shutup, Sai!"

Sakura sighed, rolling her eyes and looking away from them. "Darui says he hasn't seen her lately. So, I don't know where she could be."

"Its been awhile since she has been back here." Kakashi decided to speak on the matter. "So maybe she's revisiting places she knows. I'm sure it is nothing to worry about." Although he had his suspicions, he opted to act optimistic about the situation.

Yamato looked more confused than anything with his arms folded. "Maybe, but after that Yuuma situation. You would think she wouldn't put herself in too much danger."

They waited a few more minutes until Taiga appeared with Shi beside her. Something flared inside Naruto and he could feel his face contorting into one of anger. His hands balled into tight fists. 'I knew she was with him! What for anyway?!' He angrily thought to himself.

His anger subsided immediately though when he had seen a sword in her hands. His eyes stayed focused on it until she was standing clearly in front of him. The sword rested on both palms of her hands and she had extended it to him. "Is that…"

"Yep." She answered quickly. "I know I've been distant for a while, but I was trying to make this as quickly as I could. Forging a sword is a sacred act in my religion."

Shi smiled, nodding. "She even went as far as cleaning and dressing herself with special care before she forged it." He then sighed, "So dedicated for this thing."

Her eyes cut Shi a glare, "You act as if I did it especially for him. I did it because it is tradition."

Now he was beginning to feel dumb for being so angry and worried about her whereabouts. Naruto gently took the sword from her hands and looked at the sheath, which was a golden glow of orange that reminded him of sunrise. It was made of pure magnolia.

When he unsheathed it, there was a shiny groove along the edge of the blade, running from top to bottom. It was thoroughly sharpened and polished, he could literally eat off and see his reflection. He wouldn't dare try it though, the blade was obviously hard and sharp.

The sword handle ( tsuka ) was attached to the blade with a mekugi stick made of bamboo ( a small peg for securing the tsuka to the nakago ), but was decorated with fuchi ( the hilt collar between the handle and the hand guard ) and kashira ( the pommel on the end of the handle ). The fuchi was perfectly oval, a flat ring that protected the end of the handle facing the blade. The decoration of it was circles in inside the ring.

He checked the scabbard again to see the design of the Konoha spiral on one side and the sun on the other. The detail of it was perfect and he knew she must of worked hard to do this. He eventually sheathed the sword and he couldn't wipe the big smile off his face. "This is… more than I expected! Its… Its!"

"I don't wanna hear it." Taiga was satisfied. His smile satisfied her, and to see how he looked at everything down to the fine detail was good enough for her. "So, what are you going to name it?"

"Nakigitsune!" It was honestly the first thing that came to mind.

"Nakigitsune?" Sakura repeated.

"Howling Fox, hm?" Taiga rubbed her chin in thought, "It fits."

"Why yes, it suits Naruto perfectly." Sai chided in, but he was a bit more teasing with his words and Naruto knew his game. In fact, he was being glared at this very moment.

"I think you should shut it before I use this sword on you." He playfully threatened, a smirk on his face as he felt even more invincible with the weapon in his hand.

Taiga rolled her eyes before turning to look at Shi. "Thank you for helping me. I'm used to the Sanemori way of making a sword, but I learned some new things."

"It was fun watching you work." Shi admitted, "If you need to make a sword, I'll be glad to assist again."

Bothered, Naruto grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward. "We should be going now. Gotta catch Yuuma! Bye!" He quickly said as Taiga's wide eyes were staring up at him.

"W-What the hell?" Taiga immediately questioned, unsure of what he was rushing her for.

Kakashi and Yamato had looked at one another in confusion before looking at the backs of the young teenagers walking ahead. "H-Hey! Wait up!" Sakura shouted with Sai following closely behind.

Darui had walked up to Shi, waving a goodbye. "Do you think the Raikage trusts them enough with Yuuma?"

Shi turned to look at his comrade and gave a short, sharp nod. "I do. After the reports we gave them about their stay, he said they were "adequate enough", especially Naruto since he managed to stand up to him."

"Hmm…" Darui hummed in thought. "It takes a lot to impress him, don't you think?"

"I don't think Raikage-sama is thoroughly impress, but he's satisfied enough. We'll still have to follow close behind. You never know what could happen."

* * *

And Naruto gets his sword! He still has a lot of training to do, but its canon that Naruto always finds his way to master things.

Yes, Nakigitsune is an actual, real sword~ There's not much said about it, but it was rare among the samurai class during the Kamakura period. Also, I think it fits Naruto really well. Although the Howling part of the name can be translated to Crying as well, but Howling is what I chose. I was going to name it a mythical name like Totsuka, but I discovered that was the name of Itachi's sword. And I was like, "? His sword had a name?!" Plus I totally forgot Itachi had a sword, but then I quickly remembered that one time he used it against Kakashi during Tsukuyomi. Man, how could I forget that so quickly? But Nakigitsune is much better for Naruto, and real! I changed the coloring of the scabbard to make it more into Naruto's own, but you can check it out on certain Japanese websites if you can.

Look at all this samurai stuff I'm teaching you guys. You gotta love me for that. I'm straight up educatin'.

Anywho, next chapter shall introduce some of Yuuma's subordinates; one of then is pretty crazy so far. I think the next chapter will probably be rated M for sure. There will also be some extended Taiga and Naruto bonding! I never realized I was gonna make this such a slow burn for them, but you guys love me anyways from the faves and follows.


	11. Chapter Ten: The Crow and the Cat Pt1

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Masashi Kishimoto does!

**Author's Note**: This chapter is rated M. I'm getting a little creative now with this kinda thing.

* * *

Land again. Taiga was grateful, and she wasn't surprised that she was greeted with some familiar faces. Ino had ran towards her and pulled her and Sakura into a group hug ( mainly pulling Sakura and Taiga close with her arms over their shoulders and their heads pressing together ), and honestly Taiga was half happy and half annoyed by it. But she didn't say anything about it and gave an awkward pat to Ino's back. "Nice seein' you again, Ino."

"Wow, Taiga seems way less grumpy than before!" Teased the Yamanaka, "Did you and Naruto get right close?"

Confused, and slightly flustered, she immediately shook her head. "No, w-what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Her stutter didn't help because Ino's chuckle began to fill her ears and Sakura seemed to be confused by it. At least she didn't buy into Ino's words or understand them.

Naruto had walked over, seeing Taiga trying to cover her red face and Ino still cheesing. "Uh, what's going on?"

"Oh, nothing~" Naruto knew better to get involved when Ino sounded like that, he dismissed it as "girl stuff" and quickly walked away.

"Have you been on any missions lately, Ino?" Sakura changed the topic, which relieved Taiga. Now that she wasn't the center of attention, she could finally breathe.

With a nod, Ino let out a sigh. "Just some simple stuff, like C-ranked. Nothing really big or nothin' or a wild goose chase like your mission."

"Yeah," The pink-haired girl hung her head, "Naruto and Taiga got most of the action. I just wanna punch somethin', y'know."

Taiga couldn't help but chuckle at this. "Yuuma's too cowardly to face all of us at once, so that might be a while, Sakura."

"Yeah, 'cause he knows if it's all of us then he's finished!" Her confidence intrigued Taiga and made her wonder what the girl's potential was. She knew, for the most part, that the girl was a medic but her other capabilities? Taiga knew nothing of them.

"So, are you coming straight to the village or do you have other things to do?" Asked the blonde-haired kunoichi.

Sakura nodded, "We're going back to the village. We heard Yuuma or one of his subordinates were spotted around here, but since it's been awhile since we came back, we know they are nowhere around."

Taiga nodded, "We'll just have to be patient."

Ino gave a nod, showing she understood but it came to a halt when a sudden explosion happened in the distance. All of them jumped at the sound but then pressed their feet down in attack stances to show they were alert.

"What was that?!" Naruto immediately asked, his hand resting on the handle of Nakigitsune.

"We're going to find out!" Kakashi said, "I want everyone remain silent and travel by trees."

With a nod, everyone prepared themselves and followed after him. Taiga just hoped that this was a sign of Yuuma.

**) o (**

The smoke had begun to clear, and one man among the many dead bodies was playing possum. He was eagerly placing blood on his face and lying in a pool of it. That had taken a lot of guts, but did they think she was stupid? Did he not know that his heart was beating so loudly and clearly in her ears?

Her tongue had slid across her upper teeth and she went down on all fours like a lioness ready to capture a meal for the day. Standing was too much since she nearly used half her strength since walking wasn't enough, but crawling was better than anything. If there was anything she learned from that idiot she worked with, it proved quite effective.

The raven-haired female had took slow strides, her apple-red eyes looking nowhere else but at the "smart" shinobi that laid not too far from her. The right corner of her lips went up to unveil a sinister smirk on her face as she grabbed him by the shoulder and sunk her sharp nails into his flesh.

He screamed, as he should, and stood to try to fight her off but she had maneuvered herself so that she cling onto his back with no attempts of letting him go as he moved side to side for her to fling her off. Her nails dug deeper and from the amount of blood he was losing, his fight was becoming more and more weak. He soon fell forward, the poor man's legs giving out while she was still clinging to his back with her legs wrapped around her waist. Her right hand let the nails come out, letting the blood ooze quickly and much faster at this rate. One arm had wrapped around his head to execute a swift and strong _snap_ of his neck.

Another shinobi was alive and once they made eye contact, he knew she was his target. His chakra must've been low, so he settled for something in his pouch, frantically searching for something to take her out with. Now that the dead man was free of her limbs and nails, she was ready to attack this next buffoon.

Her steps were slow again, and very lethal. Perspiration was dripping down his face from fear as she moved closer and closer. To her surprise, he did not beg for his life but it might have been because he knew it would be falling upon deaf ears. She took another step, her head slightly tilted back with an empty yet dark look on upon her face as she was advancing forward.

Her body was worn out, but she was pushing it, which wasn't healthy but something she would have to do.

"The look on your face…" Her voice was rather raspy as she inched forward another step, "Do you what your expression is called?" Her voice was barely a whisper, but the man heard. He tried to take a few steps back as her face was still that plain expression. All of her emotions were written clearly in her eyes, "Its called fear~ And I love it! I love that expression because whenever I see someone have it they know something is about to happen to them. Something they don't want… Something that they," she let out a soft chortle, crazed beyond normal behavior, "have been avoiding for such a long, long…" She paused, leaving thick and heavy tension between them, "time."

Her hands swiftly took out the kunai from the sheath around her thigh as she hadn't broke eye contact with the shinobi. Her sais were a specialty, but both of them were lodged deeply into the two other shinobi. She didn't have time to run back and get them.

Her legs felt like they were starting to buckle, but she couldn't stop herself now. And so, with no other option, she threw herself on him and placed the sharp end of the kunai at his neck. "I'll cut you open with such precision, but let's just hope I don't decide to do more~" Her voice was breathy as she slid the tip of the blade across his pale, smooth neck and watched him writhe beneath her as the thin line of blood appeared. His pain did not bring her joy.

In fact, it bothered her.

This was nothing compared to the pain she suffered from. These people died so easily that she couldn't perform the same acts that had been done to her. Lapping up the blood with her tongue, she made another thin line as his body shook of pain and his eyes widened in fear, his body nearly going into shock from it all.

The bloody kunai was raised to her mouth, her tongue sticking out as she danced the crimson glazed blade down to the tip of her tongue. He watched in disgust and fear as she leaned in over his face, licking the sweat from his forehead. His perspiration tasted of agony, but it still found no joy in her. She was tormenting him, but not to the extent of how she felt. It wasn't enough, but he was going to die soon from all the blood he was losing. "Not enough..." She mumbled as she felt her grip on the kunai become far too tight. What could she do? What could she do so he could understand how painful it was to be tortured as she had? This was nothing compared to what she had endured.

Her eyes turned into slits as she jammed the kunai into his stomach, through his belly button. She didn't have the strength to keep going and she wanted his blood to taste of anguish, regret, and detriment. From the corner of her eye, she had seen his arm wriggling on the ground in attempt to figure out what he could use to attack her. The woman had pressed her foot down his hand, crushing it beneath her. She raised his wrist to her lips, pressing her dry lips against it into a kiss; a sweet little peck, right on the area where she could see his green veins. He grew paler and paler, death knocking on his front door as he watched in horror as she punctured the skin on his wrist with her teeth and twist the kunai around and around his stomach.

Blood was raining down like a waterfall down his arm, her tongue catching every bit of it as tears slipped down the corner of the man's eyes. Yes, he was crying. Her vengeful spirit was shivering with happiness. Revenge was something she craved for; she drowned herself in it when given the chance. Soon she could feel his heartbeat slowly come to a halt after beating so furiously just minutes before. Her slender, pale finger had swiped up his salty tears and she rubbed them against her lips as if it were lip gloss. Her lips glistened with the tears of death of a self-righteous twit who dared attempt to kill her with the rest of these fools.

She soon fell atop of him, her body feeling a bit strained. Her ear was pressed to his chest and this was the first time she had been this close to a dead body. The heart in his chest cavity was silent like she had thought of her own and she reveled in the fact that she had been the cause.

Her beautiful performance left him… breathless.

**) o (**

By the time they had reached the area of the explosion, dead bodies were piled everywhere. Ino gasped at the sight, her blue eyes wide in surprise. Taiga's eyes searched frantically for any sign of Yuuma, but she hadn't seen anything that would lead her to believe that he had been here. "It wasn't Yuuma," She said her eyes looking over to Kakashi, "but it might be one of his subordinates."

He gave a firm nod as he walked towards him. "These are Konoha ninja. They have the Leaf headband…"

Naruto eyes narrowed in anger, a frown adorning his face. "Now they made this even more personal!" He said, infuriated. "These guys look like chuunin too, they weren't strong enough to…"

Taiga rested a hand on Naruto's shoulder to give it a squeeze. The least she could do was comfort him, just a little. He appreciated it and gave her a small smile.

"Yamato, alert Tsunade-sama what happened here." Kakashi ordered, the brown-haired ninja gave a nod before disappearing. "This is brutal…" He mumbled.

It was hard not to vomit at the sight. Sakura had to turn her head away as well as Ino. Taiga had seen something like this before, so she was immune but the stench of blood and dead bodies never really became something you got accustomed too.

"Why would someone do this?" Sakura managed to ask, "How could they be so… ruthless?"

Taiga tried to find anything that would be a clue. Her feet stepped around the puddles of crimson, her eyes searching for anything out of the norm. Some men had three punctures wounds to the chest that were diagonal, which seemed odd. What weapon could do that? The one in the center appeared deep too, as well as thicker than the other two.

Yuuma, as she stated before, left precise cuts that were like a surgeon with a scalpel and none of these wounds resembled that. One shinobi had a kunai protruding from his belly button, which didn't identify with the other wound on two of the other men's chest.

Was it more than one person? It made sense and since there were so many shinobi, she couldn't rely on footprints to make a difference and none of them trailed away from the pile to indicate they had left either.

"Did you spot anything familiar?" Kakashi asked.

Taiga shook her head in reply, "But I found these two men with strange markings. I don't know what weapon does that." She led him over to the two men with three diagonal holes in their chest.

"Hmmm…." He hummed, "The only weapon I can think of are sais…"

"Sais? I never heard of them." She said as she noticed how the center hole almost pieced all the way through, so that it could poke out from the man's back. "Seems deadly."

"They are when the right person uses them." She took his word for it. They were sharp as a katana blade, but more piercing like a needle. These men looked like they suffered greatly and didn't die quickly either. From the amount of blood, it was slow and torturous.

Naruto had stepped towards them, "Kakashi-sensei, do you think the person who did this got far?"

"I'm not sure. It smells like they all died minutes ago, but the killer might have gotten away fairly quickly since they were all dead before we arrived." Kakashi explained before standing on his feet, but we should still be on alert. "They might be close by but we shouldn't count on it"

"Tch, you always have to make a mess don't ya?" said a rather masculine voice.

"You know I love theatrics~" said the woman from before, her scarlet eyes staring

A young man with long, royal-blue hair that was disheveled and covering his eyes turned towards her. "Is that supposed to be an excuse for being messy?"

"Oh, Akechi~ Aren't you the sweetest when you speak when I do not ask?" Her cooing was enough to send a shiver down his spine, which he opted to look away from her and back the shinobi that were investigating her "performance".

"I wonder how Yuuma-sama is gonna feel about this." He said as he tilted his head slightly, "He said we can do what we want, but he said to kill samurais not ninjas."

Sucking her teeth, she let out a slight snarl. "Ninjas deserved to die too. Why don't we just rid the world of both of them? All they cause is pain and grief as well."

"I know, I know." He sighed, "You have a hatred for ninjas, but did those guys have anything to do with ya?"

He knew he got her right there because for the first time, she was quiet. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she glared at him, "Can't a girl have fun?"

"Heh, I suppose." Akechi shrugged, "But just not _too_ much or else we'll end up dead."

"Who would kill us? These petty ninjas?" Her eyes roamed back to the group, "Who is to say they aren't as _weak_ as that bunch I just killed?"

"Can't you tell? That guy right there is the infamous Kakashi, the Copy Ninja. And the boy, I think that's the one Yuuma-sama said was Naruto Uzumaki." Akechi pointed at the two. "They aren't weak, Kureha."

With a hum, she felt herself more intrigued. "The Copy Ninja? I've heard of him, but I've never heard of Naruto Uzumaki. What's to fear about him?"

"He's the jinchuuriki of the kyuubi." He answered and he watched her stiffen up some. "Heh, and you weren't scared before but you're scared now, huh?"

"I'm not scared." Kureha retorted, "I'm just… wary. So any time, that nine-tails could release itself?"

With a shrug, Akechi tilted his head. "Who knows."

"But that girl, her, she's the one Yuuma-sama assigned us to, right?" Her eyes slowly glanced towards the magenta-eyed girl, who held onto the handle of her katana tightly.

"Yes, that's Taiga Sanemori." Now that it was confirmed, the girl felt a little bit of excitement in her bones. "He said to capture her, not kill her."

"Why? Doesn't she want to kill Yuuma-sama?" Kureha asked, "You know, she's probably on that avenger trip like most people when their loved ones get killed."

"I don't know what for but Yuuma wants her alive." Akechi had reached into his pocket, "We'll keep an eye on 'em until she's alone or with some people that's easy to knockout."

His eyes rolled when she released a long, dramatic whine. "But killing people is more fun! I want to kill them~ Let me kill these Leaf idiots!"

"No." Akechi said sternly, "That's not what we were assigned." With a sigh, he stood up on the branch. "Although if you do it behind my back? Then I guess you could get away with it."

Soon, Leaf shinobi had came to take the bodies back to the village. Taiga didn't want to see the families that would have to identify the bodies and grieve over their loved ones. It was hard thing to do and even harder to watch. Naruto stayed closed beside her, sensing her uneasiness as they made their way back to Konoha. He offered to eat at Ichiraku, but she didn't have the stomach for it. How Naruto was able to block out the images from his mind so quickly made her envious, but she was sure that those images would haunt him like they would anyone else.

"So, where are ya going to stay?" He finally asked, "You can stay with Sakura-chan, like you tried to last time.

Taiga looked down the path of the busy market area and gave a slight shrug. "If it doesn't bother you then can I stay at your place?"

Immediately, he stopped walking. Noticing he wasn't at her side, she turned out to look at him as he looked completely stunned. He tried his best to not look red in the face but it was so hard to fight it. "Uh… w-why my place?"

"I feel comfortable with you." Taiga gave a shrug, "I don't want to be a nuisance to Sakura and her family."

"O-Oh…" What did he expect? But why would a girl want to stay all alone with a boy anyway? Maybe Taiga didn't see what was problematic about it. Naruto was just her friend… A friend she could trust.

For some reason, he felt a bit stilted and disappointed about it. He wasn't sure what he expected, but he was a bit excited about the possibility of someone staying over his house. That place felt lonely with just himself, and to have company that didn't leave? He wondered what that was like.

"Okay then." Naruto gave a nod, "I, uh, don't know how to cook so…"

A brow arched and she shrugged, "I'm not the best but I'm not the worst. C'mon, knucklehead, let's go."

The blond led the way, and also took his time to point and explain certain stores and places. Even though Taiga hadn't asked, she was grateful and interested; listening to what he had to say and even asking questions herself.

The place wasn't as difficult to get around like Kumogakure. In fact, she had an easier time making her way around. The only route that was hard for her was to the training fields because she had gotten lost several times on her way there from the hospital. She braved through it and even broke down to ask directions, but she had made it seem she got there so effortlessly so Naruto wouldn't have been forced to tour her around.

When they reached the place that Naruto called home, she tilted her head at the little apartment. She could tell Naruto was hesitant on letting her in, fiddling around with his keys until he opened the door. She stepped inside after him and immediately she felt the place was just a little bit cramped as they took off their shoes and slipped onto some slippers.

"Hehehe…" Rubbing the back of his head, he shyly looked around and was a bit relieved that it wasn't as messy as it usually was. "This is, uh, my home."

Taiga grew up in luxury as a child, and it felt odd to see that a place that was the size of a cleaning closet. And then, as she lived with Orochimaru, there wasn't luxury but the rooms were large and spacious.

Since she had nothing nice to say, so she decided not to say anything pertaining to it. "I'll sleep on the floor."

Immediately, he stood in front of her and made a "no way" motion with his arms. "Huh?! You can't be serious! I can't let you sleep on the floor, you can't take my bed."

Thankful at the suggestion, Taiga had better manners. "No, I'll just need a futon. It's no big deal."

"It is a big deal! You're my guest, I can't let you sleep on the floor!" He insisted, which seemed odd because she hardly took Naruto as someone who had house manners.

Placing her hands on her hips, she shook her head. "No, I'll be sleeping on the floor. I'm not going to keep arguing with you, Uzumaki."

Since it seemed fruitless to try to change her mind, he sighed and made his way over to a drawer and pulled one out. He coughed some since it was dusty since Naruto never had guests over his house before.

Taking it from him, she gave him a deadpanned look. "I'll wash it. You take care of all those dishes in the sink. Is there any food in the fridge?"

Now she was making him clean? "I thought this was my house." He mumbled.

"And I thought you cared about your guests? Get to cleaning." Taiga walked away with the futon and he sighed, trudging his feet towards the sink to see bowls on top of bowls, spoons and forks all over the place. He hated cleaning.

Taiga had taken it to another level too. Now she was forcing them to clean up the whole place. Naruto was given a broom and he had raked it furiously back and forth across the hard, wooden floors. He didn't want to hear her rebuff, so he swept as if his arms would fall out of his sockets.

On her hands were yellow rubber gloves, her hair was done up in a simple ponytail, and a white scarf was wrapped around the bottom half of her face. She was wiping down all the surfaces with a wet rag until they were shiny and sleek as Honjo Masamune's blade. Where she managed to find a duster was beyond him, but she was using it to wipe away the surfaces of much taller objects.

His blue eyes followed her around as she whizzed around the place to make sure everything was spotless. Outside the window, he could see the futon on the clothing rack to dry. Who knew that Taiga was such a clean freak. She had then opened the windows to let air in and rid the apartment of dust and any other stenches. Honestly, the place was cleaner than he ever thought was possible.

When she deemed it as thoroughly clean, Taiga pulled down the scarf and looked to Naruto, who was leaning against the broom. "Can I help you?"

"W-What?" He shook his head, now paying attention to what he was saying instead of staring at her.

"You've been staring at me for fifteen minutes straight." She then pointed at him and then at the floor, "You haven't even cleaned up the mess."

"O-Oh!" He stuttered, "I was, uh…" He couldn't even find the proper excuse.

Sucking her teeth, she ripped the broom from his hand and gathered up all the dust and junk. He found the duster and allowed her to sweep into it until everything was picked up from the floor.

Now that cleaning was done and her hands washed as well as free of gloves, Taiga made her way to the fridge. Just to say she was disgusted seemed minuscule, all she could see was an expired carton of milk and a few soda cans. "Really, Uzuamki?" With a sigh, she hung her head. "I'll be back. I'm going to the market."

"I'll go with you!" She raised her hand, halting him.

"I'll be alright. Stay here, relax or something." And like that, she left without another word.

Naruto had sighed and sat at the chair with the small table. Was this what it was like to live with someone? Did you clean together? Naruto wasn't fond of cleaning itself, but he figured it would be fun if he was doing it with someone else. His eyes roamed around the place, not seeing a trace of dirt or dust. It smelled like lemon, probably from the cleaning products she used that he never remembered buying. Maybe he thought of cleaning at one time but completely abandoned the idea.

It did feel better, the atmosphere that is, and even though Taiga was gone, it didn't feel lonely as it usually had. It could've been because he knew she was coming back that he couldn't be able to feel lonely at the moment.

Rocking, his chair back in forth out of boredom, he wondered what it would've been like if Taiga lived with him. Would they argue a lot? Would they clean together constantly? Would she want to buy groceries and would she eventually let him go with her? It oddly felt good as if that was exactly what he wanted; to come home with someone, to be here with someone, and know they'll come back.

What was cooking together like? Having a home meal with someone you lived with? Was that fun too?

He hadn't realized how long he had been in his thoughts until a good thirty minutes went by and then there was a knock on the door. Scrambling to his feet, Naruto had opened it eagerly to see Taiga with two large, brown grocery bags. He took one and brought it to the kitchen as she held the other and followed behind him once she changed back into slippers.

Taiga plopped it down on the counter and let out a sigh of relief, combing her fingers through her fringe. "Alright, that should last us a while."

"What did ya get?" Naruto asked.

"Some meat, veggies, and some fruit." It was clear as day that he wasn't happy about the sound of vegetables. She should've known he wasn't big on them since she could never recall him eating any. Of course, she wouldn't mind shoving them down his throat if he was reluctant.

"So…" His head tilted, "what are you going to make?"

Raising a brow, she huffed. "We're going to make Sukiyaki."

Taiga figured he wasn't going to be enthused about it, but he surprised her by his excitement. She carefully pulled out the ingredients and he pulled out the miniature stove and a hotpot.

It was quiet as they individually chopped up the ingredients, and he was more than eager to add the seasonings needed for it. This was the first time she had cooked in a kitchen like this since when she was young, she used to watch the chefs at work and help out whenever they allowed her to.

During her time with Orochimaru, Kabuto usually cooked or she and Sasuke used to put fish by a fire whenever they were out on missions. It felt different to be in a home and to cook with fresh ingredients, but she thought that maybe one day she could get used to it.

"You're not so bad with a knife." That was her way of complimenting as he chopped the kikuna leaves.

"Heh! Maybe because I'm seeing it as Nakigitsune." It didn't surprise her, his answer that is. "But, uh, do I really have to eat these flowers? That seems pretty nasty."

At least he was honest.

"They're not from actual Chrysanthemums, idiot." She couldn't help but laugh, "But they give a nice, herbal flavor to the meal. So suck it up."

He cursed under his breath, staring daggers at her from the corner of his eyes. It didn't bother her as she placed some of the thin sliced beef into an oil pan on the stove to sear it.

Looking over her shoulder, Naruto watched as she used the huge cooking chopsticks to turn them over to help them brown. "That smells really tasty!"

Frozen by the closeness, Taiga kept her eyes fixated on the meat and added the seasoning. "P-Pass me the soy sauce!"

Confused by her stuttering and sudden yell, he did as she said and watched her quickly add a certain amount. "Uh, you okay?"

"I'm fine!" She huffed as she tried to keep her face away from his view. "A-Add the vegetables!"

Still wary of her sudden behavior, he brought vegetables and placed them all around the meat since she kept it in one corner. Eventually, she brought the mini stove to the table and sat down and he followed suit.

"Go ahead. Eat." She said as she plucked out a piece of beef first and sighed. "This came out better than I expected." Taiga didn't hear a peep, but when she finally looked at him, the boy was stuffing his face… Mostly of meat. "Eat the vegetables too!"

Of course, she was given a stare and then a shake of his head. So, out of anger, she picked up some of the kikuna leaves and stuffed it in his mouth. "A-Ah! It's hot! Its—"

He forced himself to chew it but was surprised that the seasoning and the beef kind of took away that healthy taste he didn't particularly like about them. So, he settled for them.

"That's the reason why I made it in the first place." She explained, "You can barely taste them."

He puffed his cheeks some and looked away. "Yeah yeah."

With a small smile, she finished her fair share. "I'm gonna take a shower." Standing on her feet, she then turned towards him. "Do you have spare clothes?"

"Uh…" Turning the mini stove off, he walked towards him room and into the dresser. He only had a few shirts he slept in and hardly any pajamas pants. What could he say? That he slept in his boxers? Maybe her sleeping here was a bad idea. No doubt, she'd be pissed seeing him walk around in those, right?

Taiga leaned over his shoulder and took a green shirt with the Konoha swirl and a pair of black pants. "Thank you."

The least he could do now was take the futon from the clothing rack and place it down by his bed on the floor. He even fluffed the pillow as much as he could as he heard the shower running. Then it occurred to him that girl was taking a shower in his house.

With wide eyes, a perverted grin had spread across his lips as slow, manic chuckle escaped him. Even though he matured, his perverseness hadn't fully left him just yet. After all, he was a teenage boy with some hormones that had been ignored. As well as after trying to get Sakura on a date after many failed years, he couldn't help but think that maybe he should act on them just a little.

That's when he noticed something else. Why hadn't he thought about Sakura as much as he used to? Didn't he say he like her or loved her even? Yet, every since he had met Taiga, Sakura wasn't in his thoughts as much as she used to be. Now all he kept thinking about was why Taiga so distant? What was she up to? Did she trust him?

"Ha!" He choked out. Him? Liking Taiga? That had to been the craziest thing he ever thought. Yet, it didn't seem as ridiculous as he tried to make himself believe it to be. They were just different from each other and she hardly cared about him, right? Even though he could recall that she protected him with her life, taking that hit from Ryuuji so that he would be safe; no girl had **ever** done that for him.

The last person he could remember sacrificing themselves for him like that was Sasuke, and before him, it was Iruka. She was poisoned because of him. She could've clearly died, and they had barely known each other then. Why did she do that? And why when he thought about, his heart began racing? Maybe that's why he was so fond of her because of that similarity to Sasuke again. That had to be it.

It wasn't like Taiga wasn't attractive. Naruto definitely thought she was. Her skin was brown, nearing a caramel color and her eyes were slant yet round and magenta. Sometimes they looked orange-red when she was angry. Her hair was a flaxen color and usually neat, which meant she probably took the time to comb and brush it at night. She was shorter than him, which he didn't mind since he figured that's why she was so mean like most smaller people. Her bust didn't matter to him. He never really cared about bust size, but it wasn't unnoticeable nor something he disliked. Just thinking about it made him red in the face.

Did he _like_ her? Why else would he be taking the time to think of her or get flustered over the stupidest of things? Maybe because she was the only girl around other than Sakura, that's why he was taking notice of her. She was the only other girl he spent most of his time with nowadays, so it was easy to mistake admiration and camaraderie for a crush.

He hadn't noticed the shower had stopped as he sat at the table in thought. His fist was pressed against his cheek as he leaned onto it. He was stuck here waiting until she was done with the shower so that he could use it after her.

When she came out, her hand was holding a towel and attempting to dry her hair with it. It was still wet and clinging onto the sides of her face and the back of her neck. Naruto's eyes slowly looked away from the empty space and towards her and he felt nervous all over again. A girl was wearing his clothes? And no doubt, they fit her loosely but it was still hard to get over that a girl was going to sleep in his clothes.

His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed, that blush stain coating his face again. Her eyes were elsewhere, too busy paying heed into drying her hair to notice his stare. "You can take the shower. I left some hot water." He watched that subtle drop of water slid down her face, along her neck, and then into the shirt going Kami knows where.

He barely understood her as she glanced over to see this goofy look on his face. Squinting her eyes, she rose a brow. "Uh, Naruto?"

Surprised to hear her name come out of his mouth instead of the usual 'Uzumaki', he jumped up, making the chair slide back as he stood. "Uh, yeah!"

"What's your problem?" Now she was genuinely curious. Why was he acting so weird?

"Nothing!" He immediately said as he ran towards the bathroom. He ran so fast that she felt a strong wind ready to knock on her backside as it whizzed past her.

Taiga made her way to the futon and flopped down. It must've never been used since the pillow didn't feel flattened and nor did the cushion. Pulling the blanket over her shoulder, she eased her face into the pillow. It felt warm and comfy.

Her eyes had opened halfway, staring out into nothing as she lost herself in her thoughts. Why did she decide to come here? She easily could've went to one of the girls house. That nuisance to Sakura and her family business felt like an excuse now that she thought about it. Taiga had grown comfortable with Sakura and they have conversations that entertained her.

Sakura wasn't as girly as Ino, so she didn't feel uncomfortable or off-put. Although she liked Ino, it was just awkward with some conversations. That whole "who looks hot?" and "Who do you like?" conversations made her squeamish. Was she really not used to that? Isn't that what normal girls her age thought about? Karin was feminine, well, not as feminine as Ino. She enjoyed perfume, wore lip gloss, and was never shy about how she felt about Sasuke.

Their conversations never centered around them though. In fact, they had much more fun laughing at the dumb things the boys did than actual feelings. Had she become desensitized from those things? It could be from the fact that while she was growing up, she had to cosplay a boy, a perfect heir, than being taken under her mother's wing on being the virtues of a samurai woman. There were so many things to blame, and so many ways to deem herself as abnormal among her female peers.

Eventually Naruto had left the bathroom, fully clothed, with a towel drying off his face, neck, and hair. Taiga had watched him come into the room and then looked away.

This was a lot more awkward than she had thought.

"Are you sure you don't want the bed?" Naruto asked again, making sure. Girls were weird sometimes. Sometimes they get mad if you don't insist something and other times they get angry when you do. He had no clue on what she wanted exactly.

Her eyes peered up at him and she gave a nod. "I'm fine. The futon is comfy."

Without argument, he flopped onto the bed and placed his arms behind his head as he looked up at the ceiling. "Taiga."

"What?" She replied as he called her name.

He took a few minutes before he spoke, "Do you miss your family?"

The whole room had gone insanely quiet, and Naruto thought he even felt a chill down his spine. He knew it was sensitive topic but there was a lot on his mind and there were some things he wanted to pry about her personal life.

Taiga was shocked by the question, that much was certain. And she even sat up to look at him with her eyes wide in that shock. He sat up as well to return her gaze but then watched her shoulder's slumped and she looked away in thought.

"Of course I do." She finally said, "I miss my mother the most."

"What was she... like?" Naruto had no idea what his mother looked like or what her personality was. It made him envious that both Taiga and Sasuke had gotten to know their parents and spent time with them. Taiga had them longer than Sasuke had his.

There was a twinkle in her eye and a warm smile on her face. The expression was soft, and very unlike her. It made his breath hitch and his eyes widen as she seemed to take herself back into a good memory.

"My mother was kind, and beautiful." She looked at him bearing the same expression, "But that's so overused. Most people say that about their mothers." She nodded, "But it's true, she was. My mother was the symbol of what a samurai's wife was supposed to be and many of her shinobi comrades recognized her as loyal and also unyielding."

"She was also terrible cook." Taiga laughed, "She burned anything she touched! Her handwriting was terrible and Raikage-sama, before he became Raikage, had always teased her about it. She was terrible in math, she was terrible with kids. You figure, if just a kid crying made her uneasy then how was she able to have me?"

Naruto grinned and rubbed the bottom of his nose. "Heh, I guess the only thing she was good at was being _your_ mom and a kunoichi, huh?"

"Basically." Taiga nodded, "But she made everything feel fine. How? I don't know. My mother just had a way of making you feel like everything was going to be fine. You would always believe her, even if you didn't want to. I don't know what my mother saw in Yuuma, but I guess she saw some good in him."

His eyes looked down in thought, "Maybe Yuuma was a good person before. People change."

"Maybe." Her shoulders went up and down in a shrug, "But I'll never know."

"But you're lucky." She looked over at him, "You got to meet, grow, and love your parents. I mean, I love mine but… it's hard to love people you don't know, but I just feel it, dattebayo."

It felt odd to be happy that she didn't have the same situation as him. Every night, Taiga was grateful of having her mother, her stepfather, and her grandfather in her life at one point in time. "I bet they loved you too, Naruto. I bet your parents were good people and was sad they didn't get to see you grow, but I know they'd be proud of you."

His heart felt out of control again. The beating was erratic as if it was going to leap out of his chest. He hoped the darkness hid his face well as he lied back down. "Thanks, Taiga."

Lying back down as well, she opted to look at the ceiling. Maybe Naruto had gone to sleep since he was quiet. "Hey, Taiga."

She thought wrong.

"Yes?" She replied again.

"Would you want to stay in Konoha… After the whole Yuuma thing is over? I mean..," She hadn't expected that question.

Her eyes closed halfway. "Honestly, I don't think I'd be alive to make that decision. I always figured that I would die with Yuuma."

Immediately, Naruto sat up and flopped down off the bed and onto her futon. Startled, she sat back up as he grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Why the hell would you do that?!"

"What else is there to live for?" Taiga asked. "My family is dead. I want to be with them."

How could she give up? With the skills she had with a sword? With the friends she had made? How could she end her life after getting her revenge? What was the point in that?

"What else is there to live for?!" His fingers dug themselves into her shoulders, making the grip tighter. "You're an awesome samurai! And, you have friends! Those are things to live for! And then, you can rebuild your clan! Why would you let all of this go? Why does Yuuma have to take another Sanemori with him to the grave?!"

All of those things didn't quite sound appealing to her. Her eyes looked at him, quite dull too, and she shook her head. "The Sanemori will never be as it once was. I can't make that happen. Friends? My friends have their own lives; friends aren't a forever thing, Naruto. Yuuma is my father, so I'd end the Sanemori clan with him. There should not be a child with his bloodline. I'll be the last; I'll be the end."

Naruto couldn't believe how serious she was. And it was like there was nothing he could do the change her mind right then. He could see her so clearly since the moonlight came from the window, highlighting her features, especially her eyes. Her body seemed to stand firm with those beliefs, but Naruto wasn't going to give up.

"Taiga!" He yelled at her, shaking her again to knock some sense into her but her expression hadn't changed. There was no sign that she was going to change her mind. "I won't let you."

Her brows furrowed then. Her eyes nearly turning into slits, "What right do you have?! This is how I want my life to end. This is what I want! I'm not asking you to live your life differently, so don't make me change mine!"

Although she was telling the truth, Naruto would not allow her to end her life like this. He'd stop it. She'll be angry if she wanted to, but Naruto would not hear any of this.

"I don't care." He shook his head, "I'm not letting you waste your life like this."

"It's my life and I should live and end it how I want it to." Her hands reached up to her shoulders, grabbing his hands and squeezing them tightly. "Most people don't get to choose how they die, but I will."

It was hard to argue when she said it like that. Maybe, this was the way of samurai, right? How they choose to die with such honor and valor, that's what they wanted. A ninja died fighting for their village, pride wasn't on the agenda but honor did hinge on how a ninja ended their life.

Still, the thought of her letting Yuuma get what he wanted like this angered him. And to one day now that Taiga gone, completely from existence didn't sit well with him either.

"I can't tell you how to live your life." He said, keeping his eyes focused on hers. "You're right about that, but I can change your mind on how you choose to end it."

"Tch," Closing her eyes, she shook her head. Whatever she said would go one ear and out the other, wouldn't it? "For the first time in a long time, I started to be able to breathe." Her eyes opened staring rather dismally, "Rather than feeling lonely without my family, feeling lonely by myself became better. But at the end of it all, I still feel lonely. I'll always feel it… without them."

Naruto's grip began to loosen, his mouth a severe line but her hands continued to grasp onto his, loosely but with no intention of letting them go or fall. "I'm jealous of your personality." His began to widen, mouth hanging open in shock. "Of course, you're a bit ignorant…" His expression immediately changed into one of shock and offense but nothing too serious, which made her giggle. "But still… you've learned to live with your loneliness but I can't live with mine."

Her words resonated with him, but they still infuriated him. He knew how she felt, that darkness of loneliness that clings onto you and you wonder how someone lives like this. How can someone tolerate it? How can you survive? But yet you wake up everyday, and you get yourself through the day by trying to fill that loneliness. For Naruto, it was pranking; anyway to get anyone to acknowledge him filled it, if only temporarily. He gained friends in the long run, of course, but no one knew the loneliness of being a kid without a family.

Taiga distanced herself from others. Her friendships with Sasuke, Karin, and Suigetsu would've never been forged hadn't Orochimaru found her. Had she been left behind what would've become of her? Would her loneliness drown her?

"I've learned to live with it because I have friends." Naruto said, "And you have friends too. It's hard to live without a family, I know, but life goes on and you can too, Taiga." Her eyes swept up and admired his features from the pale moonlight. His eyebrows were the same bright yellow as his hair, slightly thicker than her own, and round eyes shaded a hue that matched the vault of endless blue that was the ocean. His eyebrows were thick, though not as much as her own, gave the orbs a innocent appearance that matched him.

It bothered her how things she hadn't noticed with anyone else became so clear with him. How his overall presence became natural and comforting while at the same time scared her. Taiga feared the attachment that was growing, she didn't need it. Naruto didn't need it either.

"And you also have me, Taiga. So how can you feel lonely? I'm not going anywhere."

Her bottom lip began to tremble but she shushed the action by biting down on it. Her eyes felt glassy and tears began to pool at the corners. She wanted to cry, and to hit him, but mostly cry. Why was he so annoyingly persistent? Why did she believe him?

"Naruto…" Her voice was eerily calm, but the curiosity on his face hadn't been skeptical of it. His eyes were wide and staring at her as she buried herself into his chest.

She was embracing him, like before.

Although he was surprised, Naruto, for the most part, was happy. That meant another wall had been knocked down, the effort to decrease the distance between them was working. His arms wrapped around her comfortably, feeling her grab onto him as she kept her face hidden against his chest. That overwhelming scent of hers filled his nose, and he inhaled it with a grin. He liked this; he liked feeling needed. Taiga needed him. At least that's what he got out of this.

After a while, he noticed that she hadn't moved or spoke. She was still and her breathing was very light. His head tilted, trying to view her face to notice that she was fast asleep. With a lopsided grin, he laid her onto her back and pulled the blankets up, tucking them underneath her chin. Naruto had manners. In fact, his first instinct was to let her sleep comfortably on him, but he figured she would be angry when she woke up.

Climbing back onto his bed, he flopped down his back and spread his arms before placing them behind his head. His eyes stared at the ceiling before slowly looking over at her sleeping form.

He decided to watch her sleep until his eyelids felt heavy and he had no choice but to close them. Usually, sleep came so easy to him and out of nowhere, but something told him tomorrow would be exciting.

* * *

**A/N**: This chapter would've been wayyy longer, but I see shorter chapters are what people prefer. So, I'll keep 7 - 8k my max until you guys tell me otherwise.

I've drove off the canon storyline but I find it hard to do the whole chasing Sasuke arc in the middle of finding a mass murderer and his mass-murdering subordinates. I guess Tsunade could have given the Yuuma mission temporarily to ANBU, but I'm not quite sure about it. It would be cool for Sasuke to be helping Taiga behind the scenes... but it seems unlike him since he's hell bent on killing Itachi, and then later hell bent avenging him unless I have someone interfere about 'Madara' telling him the whole truth. Who knows, wouldn't Sasuke go back to the village as Itachi wanted? Hmmmmmmmmmm. That would make things much more interesting.

And what do you guys think of Kureha? I'm not sure if I want her to be a regular civilian or a ninja. Akechi is definitely a ninja, possibly a missing-nin is all I'm gonna hint about him. Ryuuji is undecided as well, but he had displayed kenjutsu and ninjutsu. So, he might be like Taiga and Yuuma as ninja-samurai.

Thinking of new jutsus are hard! Sheesh, but I have a few ideas in mind! How I'm going to implement them soon? Well, you guys have to stick around to find out. Though I will tease that there will be fights to be seen next chapter. Akechi and Kureha are fun to write~


	12. Chapter Eleven: The Crow and the Cat Pt2

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. Masashi Kishimoto does!

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The sun was unfriendly in the mornings, but that was Naruto's fault for not keeping the curtains closed. It shined so brightly through the window and right onto his face that it was hard for Naruto to keep himself asleep. With a groan, he rolled to his side so that his back faced the window, but the sun's rays were still shining on his face and directly into his eye. He couldn't escape it. And that was saying something since Naruto was normally a heavy sleeper. Noises wouldn't awake him, but shine something bright in his face and he would be forced awake. Wasn't that incompetent for a ninja?

After a few minutes he managed to sit up, his arms stretched above him and a loud, drawn-out yawn escaping him. His hands would rub his eyes, smoothing out the blurriness so that he could see crystal clear. His eyes then curiously looked to his left to see Taiga was not in her futon. In fact, it was neatly folded up.

Surprised, and curious, Naruto stumbled out of his bed. Unfortunately, from his wild sleep, the blanket had wrapped itself around his foot and made him trip. He landed squarely, face first, onto the wooden floors. "Ugh…" He laid there for a few seconds before standing up, "Stupid, shitty blanket!" He kicked it off his foot and then made his way towards the kitchen to see breakfast was already made. There was even a note left for him too.

'Went out.'

"What the hell? What kind of vague…" He cursed, eyes squinting as he couldn't believe that's all she wrote. Taiga couldn't have told him where she went? Did she really want to be by herself that bad? Sighing, he sat down in the chair and looked at his breakfast with mild hunger and frustration.

All it was was Oyakodon ( chicken and eggs on rice while in a bowl ) and Miso soup. He settled for it since he usually ate cereal since he tried his best not to eat ramen for breakfast, but he caved in a few times. The food tasted good, just like dinner had. Naruto could get used to a home cooked meal but he knew that this was only going to happen for just a little while. Eventually, they would find Yuuma and bring him down; the outcome wouldn't be what Taiga had wanted either. Naruto would make sure of that.

He also tried not to think of that, but it was so painfully in the forefront of his mind. A dying girl who had just defeated the man who had literally destroyed her life, her own father nonetheless. A teenage girl having to end her life so short for vengeance, but finding peace in not completing and carrying on with life after killing him. He just couldn't wrap his mind around it. Why would she want to do that?

Once he finished breakfast, he gulped down a glass of water before he took a shower and changed. If Taiga wasn't going to tell him where she went, then he would be fine on his own too! He didn't need to chase her or worry about her all the time. This was his village and there were plenty of things to do.

The weather was perfect. The sun would sometimes be blocked out by a few clouds now and then, so the sun didn't have time to make you feel unbearably hot. He wouldn't have had to unzip his jacket and could freely walk around as he usually had.

Nakigitsune was around his waist, and some of the well-known villagers had saw it and looked at him oddly. He was asked a lot of questions and he was more than eager to show it off and brag about his "samurai" training. Everyone seemed excited and curious, wanting to hold his sword too. He would let them but he made sure they didn't mindlessly swing it around, especially the academy kids.

"Wow," said one kid, "so, you're having kenjutsu training?"

"That's right!" Naruto rubbed his nose, feeling quite proud and bathing in the attention and admiration.

A genin had looked at the scabbard of the sword, "Wow, it's smooth and it looks unbreakable! I bet Naruto looks cool fighting with it!"

"You bet!" Among the small crowd, Shikamaru had watched with a raised brow.

"Well, would you look at that. So, Naruto here has picked up on a new skill." He wasn't surprised, but he never would've figured that Naruto would pick up on a weapon the required so much work.

Naruto nodded his head rather eagerly, "Yeah! Wanna check it out, Shikamaru?"

The Nara shook his head, "I know nothin' about swords. I leave all the weaponry to TenTen." His hands were sheathed in his pockets, "What about that samurai girl? She's the reason why you decided to dabble in Kenjutsu?"

"You mean Taiga?" Naruto had taken back the sword, putting it back in its scabbard. "It wasn't just her that got me interested. Sasuke seems to be into 'em too."

Shikamaru's eyes widened a fraction but then he closed them, a smirk on his face. "What a drag… That rivalry of yours still hasn't taken a break." To even think that it would seemed impossible. "What happened when you guys met him? Seeing that he hasn't come back, I can't help but think it wasn't a happy reunion." He observed Naruto's expression, seeing how his gleefulness took a dramatic shift to disappointment. "I wanted to ask before, on the little vacation, but the timing didn't seem right."

Before Naruto could answer, he had something green whip by. He shielded his eyes due to the dirt that flew up in the air and noticed that it was Lee. "What's bushy-brow doing?"

"I never know what that guy does on a daily basis." Was Shikamaru's reply, "But if you're going to investigate then I'll catch ya later, Naruto. Tell me what happened when you have the time."

"Alright, see ya, Shikamaru!" With a slight wave, Shikamaru had casually walked off with his hands sheathed in his pockets. Naruto's eyes then looked over to Lee, curious of what the guy was up to. "Hey! Lee! What're ya doin'?" As he approached him, he noticed the boy was doing many one hand push-ups. "Oh, just workin' out as usual, huh?"

"I was beat in a pushup contest against Taiga! It was exhilarating." Naruto's eyes gleamed for a second at the mention of the samurai. "I do appreciate her strength, but I knew I was close in defeating her! I cannot be outmatched!"

Lee's enthusiasm made Naruto chuckle, "Where were you two?"

"Ah, she was in the training ground. This time, she did not seem aggravated by my questions and requests!" That seemed weird. Taiga, not aggravated, in the middle of a training?

"Is she still there?" Naruto asked.

Lee shook his head, "No! I believe she went, uh… Actually, I don't know where she went."

Deadpanned, the Uzumaki rubbed the back of his head. "Thanks, Bushy-brow. I'll just look for her on my own."

Leaving, Naruto walked down the village path with his eyes looking left and right in search for Taiga. He promised to have his own fun but he was too curious as to what she might be doing.

His eyes looked right to see Sakura and Ino enjoying eating outside. They seemed engaged in conversation, but he couldn't help but want to ask. "Sakura-chan! Ino!"

Running towards their table, he flashed them his signature grin. "Ah, Naruto." Sakura piped up, "What are you doing? Where's Taiga?"

"I'onno." He shrugged, "I was looking for her. She was with Lee not too long ago."

"Oh? I was just with her a few minutes ago." Ino said, blinking curiously. "Her and TenTen were discussing some weapon techniques. They were near the weapon's store."

"Oh, do you think she's still there?" Naruto asked.

"Maybe." The Yamanaka shrugged her shoulders, "Why? Feeling lonely without her, Naruto~"

His eyes bulged at the taunt but then he fixed his expression with an annoyed one. "She doesn't know this village very well!" He tried to find a rather good, reliable excuse.

"You know, I asked her if there was someone she liked." He remained frozen, his mind ticking. "It was cute how flustered she got!"

"What did she say?" Sakura questioned.

The blue-eyed girl merely rolled her eyes, "She said: "That's the last thing I can ever think of!" She sounded so serious too. I couldn't help but wonder if she was lying or she actually meant it."

Honestly, Naruto felt relieved yet hurt by that. That sudden sting in his chest left him rubbing the middle of his chest, his eyes looking at the ground in thought. Sakura seemed relieved too, but Naruto figured it was because she might've been worried that Taiga had feelings for Sasuke. If she felt that way, Naruto had to wonder about that himself.

"Well, I'll see ya two later!" He then gave a slight wave, "I have to look for her."

"Alright, see ya, Naruto!" Sakura gave a slight wave as Ino wiggled her fingers as a goodbye.

Now he was heading towards the weapon's store. Surprisingly, he had found a rather contemplative Hinata in front of the store. Half daring to step in and half daring to chicken out. "Hinata?"

The girl visibly jumped at him calling her name. She immediately turned to face him, face red and hands up in shock. "N-Naruto-kun!"

Seeing this reaction as normal, he gave her a smile. "Were you going in the weapon's store?"

"I-I…" Her pale eyes looked down to the floor, "I-I was thinking…. about it." The last part she seemed to mumble but Naruto heard it well enough.

"What for? Looking for somethin'?" Since he was curious, he decided to pry. He couldn't really imagine Hinata with a weapon in her hands. Her hands were lethal enough with Byakugan.

Hinata gave a small smile and nod, "Yes! Taiga suggested that I should use throwing knives." Naruto's ears perked upon her name. "I overheard her talking with TenTen about weapons, and I-I asked her if one suited me and she said those would work well with Byakugan."

Naruto nodded, agreeing with it. "I think so too!" He grinned, making another blush blossom upon the Hyuuga's face.

"I-I'm good with needles so… throwing knives seem to be a good idea." Feeling confident about it now, her eyes shyly looked up at him as her hands fiddled rather nervously. "I-If…. you have time… would y-you—"

"Do you know where she went?" He then looked around, "I don't see her or TenTen anywhere."

"O-Oh! Well…" Somewhat disheartened, she kept her smile and answered his question. "I'm not quite sure... but TenTen went looking for Neji-oniisan and I believe Taiga went somewhere with Kakashi-sensei."

"Kakashi-sensei?" Confused, Naruto scratched the side of his face. "Why would she be with Kakashi-sensei?" He then thought, _'It might have something to do with the Yuuma case.'_ Sticking to that, he then shifted his attention slightly to the purple-haired girl. "Well, see ya, Hinata!"

"G-Goodbye, Naruto-kun!" Her eyes followed him as he left, a sigh escaping her. She had wished she was quick enough to ask him to help her pick out a good set of knives.

Naruto couldn't guess where those two would go. Kakashi enjoyed the training grounds, but he also enjoyed any place that was far from others to read. So where could the two possibly go? The more he thought about it, the more the training grounds seemed to be the right place and he decided to head there.

When he arrived, he had seen Taiga and Kakashi both talking and the conversation seemed rather serious. Taiga stood with her arms crossed and her eyes closed. Kakashi's eyes seemed narrowed and looking at the ground. It had to have something to do with Yuuma, right? Did they hear anything about him?

With a single step, Naruto had quietly walked towards them. "Honestly, Kakashi, I'm quite disappointed." Taiga seemed to say.

"My knowledge on samurais is quite limited." He replied, "There's a lot I don't know and have forgotten."

"To be expected of a shinobi." She retorted before her eyes slowly glanced over at the approaching Naruto. "Ah, you're finally awake."

"I've been looking all over for you!" He said, brows furrowed.

"I told you I was going out." Taiga's hands found themselves resting on her hips. "You're not my babysitter."

With a growl, his face bloomed to show his irritation. "I'd like to know where you are so I don't have to worry about you getting lost!"

"As you can see, I got around quite nicely, haven't I?" Rolling her eyes, she looked up at Kakashi. "Anyway, thanks for the tip! I think when I feel brave enough to try, I'd ask that you be there."

Wondering what she had meant, Kakashi had given them two-finger salute before disappearing. "Try? Try what?"

Sighing, she pursed her lips. "Storm release."

"Storm release?" He echoed.

"That's my Kekkai Genkai." She explained. "I'm having a hard time mastering it."

Knitting his brows together, Naruto folded his arms and hummed in thought. "Never heard of it."

"Its pretty deadly." Taiga looked up at the slightly cloudy sky, "And I have no control over it. It could destroy this whole area if I was reckless."

"Whoa!" Curious, the Uzumaki wanted to see such an ability in person. "Show it to me!"

"No way!" Taiga huffed, "You think I want the Hokage kickin' my ass for destroying this entire training ground? You must be crazy!"

"This place gets ruined all the time!" Naruto tried to find an excuse, "It's called 'Training Grounds!' for a reason."

Glaring at him, she pushed past him. "Tch, you're not getting me in trouble over it."

"Aw, c'mon!" He huffed, "You should master your Kekkei Genkai!" Maybe enticing her would help, "I had a hard time wielding my wind nature, so I can help!"

"It's not about that." She turned around to face him, "It's about combining natures!"

"Oh…" Naruto wasn't sure of his own Kekkei Genkai yet, and so he knew he had no idea on how he could teach her. Rasengan was the latest jutsu he just somewhat perfected.

A hand was on his shoulder, his eyes widening before looking at her and instantly their eyes met. "Thanks though." She nodded, "For offering me your help that is."

It was definitely odd to see her appreciative of such a small gesture, especially when he tried to help her… constantly. "Uh, did Kakashi-sensei say anything about the Yuuma case?"

"Not really." She said, her eyes staring at the ground. "They are doing autopsies on the bodies that we found yesterday. Kakashi-sensei was right about the weapon used, they were sais." With a sigh, she rubbed her arm in thought. "The marks are familiar, they say a certain woman commits murders in the same fashion."

"Does she have a name?" He asked, "A distinctive appearance?"

Taiga shook her name. "They call her Kraehe."

"Kraehe? Why?" That didn't make much sense to him.

She closed her eyes, remembering the details. "She bites, drinks blood; they say her actions are similar to crow. I wouldn't say she eats human flesh, but she has some cannibalistic tendencies."

Disgusted, he scrunched his face with a hand over his mouth. "That's... That's disgusting!"

"You're telling me." She shook her head, "I had seen tears of flesh on one of the men, but I didn't know it happened from teeth. She treats people like food."

"So one woman did all of that by herself?" After being able to keep the food in his stomach, he removed his hand away from his mouth.

"Mhm." Taiga replied, "And she just might be one of Yuuma's subordinates." A chill went down Naruto's spine. He kept picturing a crazy, sharp-teeth woman trying to eat him. He held himself, shaking his head at the thought. Taiga snorted at the sight, "Don't worry, Naruto. I won't let her eat you~"

His eyes flashed open, giving Taiga a dull stare. "Tch, I can take care of her myself, but that's just creepy, man."

"They say she works alone, but if she's apart of Yuuma's group then she might have someone with her. So, anyone suspicious might be in two's."

Both of them contemplated on that. "Either way, we'll take 'em down until we have Yuuma."

"I know. We can't give up." She had then nudged his side, "Let's go. I'm pretty bored out here."

With a smile, they both left the training area and headed back to the village. "Its nice here, Konoha, I mean." She said while they walked.

"Heh, you're telling me you're starting to like it here?" He queried, his head tilted.

"Kind of." She nodded, "It feels warm, inviting; kind of like a hug." Her head tilted back, gazing up at the sky.

"About last night…" Naruto decided to mention it and he watched as her footsteps cease, along with his own.

Her eyes looked away from the sky and at his own. "Sorry about that." She tried to forget about it. She felt too embarrassed, "I'm making _that_ become a habit."

"It's fine!" He rose his hands, waving them to dismiss any sort of feelings she was probably conjuring up in that head of hers that meant he disliked it. "It's just... The last time it happened, you kept me at arm's length."

Her feet remained planted as she didn't mean to stare. His eyes were halfway closed, a frown on his face. What he said was true. Every time they became close, she did distanced herself. Not too greatly, but enough that he could notice it.

"It's because…" She tried to keep her focus on him but her eyes wanted to avert, badly. "I'll want to live if I get close to you."

Naruto's eyes were big and staring, his lips parted, gaping from the shock. He felt happy, he felt happy more than he felt surprised but he knew that by her reluctance and that expression on her face that she wasn't happy about it.

"I… I am someone with a difficult and heavy heart." Taiga admitted, but she couldn't help but let her eyes slit close in a closed-eye smile, "But meeting you… Naruto, you made it lighter."

He took a step closer and then another, decreasing the distance. She was close, close enough that if he outstretched his arm then he could touch her. What he wanted to do? He didn't know, but there was something about her words and her smile that was making his heart stammer without any hopes of stopping.

Before the gap could fully close, his name rung through the air. "Naruto! Naruto!"

Taiga's eyes had fully opened and looked to her left to see a young boy with a long scarf, but his forehead protector was displayed proudly and proved that he was a leaf shinobi. His hair was a soil brown color and his eyes were dark. Running behind him at both sides of him were two other children, a girl and a boy.

Looking at Naruto, she noticed his face was etched into an irritated expression. "Konohamaru! You sure know how to pick the time, don't ya? Hehehe…" There was nothing playful in his laugh. In fact, it made him sound even more irritated.

Konohamaru halted, ceasing his run. "Whatever! Forget about whatever you were doing! Since when did you get a sword!" He pointed directly at it.

"Oh?" Naruto looked down at Nakigitsune and then removed it from his belt. "Cool, huh?" He moved it closer so they could get a better sight of it.

"Ooooh~" Moegi and Udon said in a unison, eyes brightening at the sight of the shiny scabbard.

Konohamaru looked at it rather suspiciously and then looked up at Naruto and then at Taiga. "Eh…" He then folded his arms, "What are trying to do, Naruto? Be a samurai?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nah, I'm a ninja through and through but kenjutsu is pretty fun." He placed the katana back in the sword belt.

"You don't have to be a samurai to wield a katana." Taiga said, placing her hands on her knees so she could see more level-to-level with Konohamaru, but there was some odd tension going on.

Naruto began to notice it, looking at the two. "W-What's the problem, Konohamaru?"

"It's just shinobis are better than samurais. Why would you like to be like one?" The jinchuuriki immediately swiped his gaze to the girl beside him, who was getting quite upset the more Konohamaru seemed to speak. "Just doesn't make sense to me why someone would want to be a samurai and not a shinobi."

Her eyes narrowed, her hand reaching out to wring it around his neck but Naruto grabbed them in time and pulled her back. "Hehe, that's not what he meant, Taiga." He tried to calm her anger.

"I meant exactly what I said." The young boy insisted. "Shinobis are better than samurais."

The blond yelped as he felt his hand being crushed by the strength Taiga was sending to her hands. "Listen here, kid. You better turn around or I'll knock your face in!" Gritting her teeth, "Samurais are just as important as ninjas! Samurais hold importance, and history! There was a time where ninjas haven't even existed when we had! We are the reason why most of you are still here! Generations of shinobi are here because of us!"

"Why are you picking a fight, Konohamaru?" Moegi whispered, not trying to break their resolve in front of Taiga.

Konohamaru kept his eyes fixated on her, showing that he wasn't backing down. "Well, looks like we need more ninjas than samurais, that's why there are less and less of them."

Naruto had wrapped his arms around Taiga's middle, keeping her at bay. "Konohamaru, that's enough! You're acting like a stupid brat!"

"You're the one that's not acting like yourself!" The boy pointed at Naruto accusingly, "Hanging with samurais, getting a samurai sword… It's like you're totally forgetting that you're a ninja! We have ninjutsu, what's so great about kenjutsu?!"

Placing his hand over Taiga's mouth to mute her obscenities, he kept his eyes trained on Konohamaru as he spoke. "Samurai and ninjas are both important people. We protect the regular civilians and we keep peace. Kenjutsu is amazing, just as great as ninjutsu and it something you can combine together too! When you learn to mesh cultures and the way of lives together, you can become even stronger!"

It was obvious that the young boy was hurt that Naruto wasn't on his side. His averted his gaze, his fist balling up angrily. "Then I'll learn kenjutsu too, and I'll be even greater than you!"

Taiga kicked her feet, constantly pushing her body to attack the little runt. Naruto grinned, "I'd like to see you try!" And just like that, Konohamaru and his ninja squad left and the boy was looking even more determined than before.

Once he was far from sight, he placed Taiga on her feet as she huffed angrily. "What the hell?! You've should've let me whack him!"

"It's not worth it." Naruto folded his arms, "He's always competing with me." He explained, "I think he was just a little jealous."

"Jealous?! That doesn't give him the right to be disrespectful and look down on my people!" He winced at how loud she was yelling, but he took it since he felt like he deserved it in Konohamaru's place.

"He doesn't know better." He tried to insist, "I'm not saying he was right. It's just no use in getting worked up, dattebayo."

He could tell that his words didn't sit well with her. In fact, her eyes looked like a storm was washing over them. "I was raised to be honorable, and I will always defend my honor whether you think it's silly or not."

She brushed past his shoulder roughly, walking past him as if he was a stubborn wall that she was bent on passing. Naruto quickly turned around, brows furrowed. He wanted to kick himself. Maybe his words were insensitive or maybe she was really just overreacting, right?

It was best to give her some space. If he followed her now, he was sure there would be an argument and he would be left in the dog house until she found herself cooled down.

Taiga didn't care where her walk would lead her. As long as wherever her feet took her to, she was nowhere near Naruto. There was quite a stomp to her step and her fists were into tight fists, so much that her knuckles were going pale. _'What does he know? We live in two different worlds! Fucking asshole kid with his shitty ass non-factual opinions!'_

Next thing she had knew, she was in front of Naruto's apartment. Out of her angry daze, she stared at the door in confusion. Why was this the first place she chose to go back to? Her hand slowly moved to the handle, but the sound of footsteps had alerted her.

"Excuse me," a feminine voice said and Taiga looked to her left, "is this the home of Naruto Uzumaki?"

Before her was a young woman very slender with long black hair that reached to her hips. Her eyes the same shiny red as an apple. Her outfit looked very civilian, but with the oddity of revealing of cleavage. Did she have something going on with Naruto? She seemed a little too old for that. The woman had to be in her early to mid twenties. Well, maybe she was one of those women that liked younger men.

"No, he's not." Taiga answered, "He should be later on. I don't really know."

She nodded, her eyes looking around in thought before returning to look at her. "Ah, I see. Then who are you? His girlfriend? I didn't know he was living with someone."

Taiga immediately shook her head, raising her hands defensively. "N-No! I am not… his girlfriend." With a sigh, she tried to shake off her embarrassment. "We're temporarily living together."

"Oh~ I see then." This girl seemed as if she had no intention on leaving. Was seeing Naruto that important? "So, do you mind if I spend my time with you?"

"Actually, I'm really not in the—Tch!" Just barely, she missed that line of silver that sped towards her. Her cheek was almost grazed but her instincts kicked in just time. Looking at her right, she had seen a strange weapon lodged into the wall. The long middle and the two, sharp prongs matched the wounds of the shinobi they had found yesterday. "You're… Kraehe, aren't you?"

"Oh, that's what the people call me?" Her eyes seemed to light up at that, a grin slowly spreading across her face. "I think I like it; yes, yes I am. I _really_ wanted the Jinchuuriki but I guess you'll do."

"Why are you after Naruto?" Taiga asked, her hand resting on the handle of Honjo Masamune. She would have to choose how she striked due to the small space since this apartment was on the highest level.

Her head lolled from side to side, "I'm not really after him. We're after you, but Yuuma-sama said to capture you and make sure that, well, you're alive enough."

"Capture me? What does he want with me? Why doesn't he look for me himself? He did so before." Confused, she watched as 'Kraehe' shrugged. "Tch, he doesn't even trust his lackeys with information like that? What good are you?"

The taunt worked. The girl came flying towards her, but Taiga spun out of her way and jumped on the railing and jumped down onto the ground. Now she had free space, but the only issue were that the passerbyers risked getting caught up in the fight.

If Taiga could run and manage her way to the training grounds, she wouldn't risk anyone getting hurt. She began to sprint, Kureha following close behind her. People looked at the two running girls with interest, especially when Kureha pulled a table in front of her with her foot alone and kicked it towards the ninja-samurai.

Taiga looked over her shoulder, seeing the rolling table. She sliced Honjo Masamune into the table, splitting it straight down the middle and jumping over it. As she landed, she swung the sword down at Kureha, who deflected it with her sais and jumped backward while Taiga jumped onto a nearby table for leverage.

Kureha swung her sais through the middle of the table Taiga was on, slicing it clean in half. Taiga managed to step on one of the halves of the table and tried to create balance with one foot. The black-haired woman followed upon her attack by cutting through the legs of the half table that Taiga stood on.

Quickly, she hopped onto the other half that and is still standing in a pose that would remind one of a crane. It was hard to keep it balanced but Taiga was grateful that her ninja skills could come into use.

Kureha knocked the half onto the ground with a kick of her foot, but Taiga jumped into the air and swung her katana at Kureha's feet as she landed.

Her attacker somersaulted away and landed in a neat crouching position before charging forward at Taiga again. She swung her sword once more, just in time for both pairs of weapons to clash together in a heated standoff.

**) o (**

Naruto reflected back on the conversation, ruffling his hair in frustration as he was feeling guilty. Maybe he was really insensitive about the subject. Honor was important to being a ninja too. It wasn't the forefront of their beliefs, but it was still important.

_"I… I am someone with a difficult and heavy heart. But meeting you… Naruto, you made it lighter."_

Just thinking about her words and the smile that came along with it made his stomach feeling weightless. The fact that Taiga could smile like that, and at him most of all, made the rush of when he first heard the words swallow him all over again.

_'What was I going to do?'_ He asked himself, _'Why did I get so close?'_ If Konohamaru hadn't interrupted him, what would he would have done? His body was far too impulsive and his head couldn't even keep up.

"Excuse me." Shaking his head from his thoughts, he turned around at the strange young man. He never seen this guy before, and so he was already wary.

The guy was also practically wearing rags.

"Yeah?" Naruto decided to entertain him.

"Have you seen a girl? I mean, you've probably seen plenty of girls but she's about this high," he motioned his hand to imitate this girl's height, "a huge rack and with white-ish kinda like hair?"

"You talkin' about Taiga?" His eyes narrowed some, "Why are you looking for her?"

"To profess my love of course!" The boy let out a rather strange, chuckle. "Nyahaha."

_'What the hell is with this guy? Why is he laughing like some sort of cat?'_ Folding his arms he shook his head. "Your way outta luck if you think Taiga is gonna like some weird guy like you, dattebayo."

"Ya think so?" The boy feigned sadness, tilting his head back with his hands clasped together. "I've been in love with her for such a long time. Notice me, Taiga-senpai~ Notice me!"

_'Euggghh… This guy is super creepy.'_ He couldn't even begin to feel jealous because he knew just from the guy's lack of care for his appearance that Taiga wouldn't like him anyway. "Uh, yeah, Taiga went away so… I have no idea where she is. I can't help you."

"Oh?" The blue-haired boy nodded, "I see. Well, I guess I'll have to settle for you then."

With his arms raised, Naruto shook his head aggressively. "Look, I'm not into that kind of stuff if that's what you're think—"

Too distracted by the conversation, Naruto had shortly missed the number of handseals the boy created with the blond's back turned. With a punch to the ground, a shock wave of earth suddenly appeared, coming out of it was a rock that traveled along the ground and making its way towards Naruto.

The huge rock erupted once the shockwave neared him, landing squarely into Naruto's chest and throwing him to the ground. He winced in pain, feeling like the air had been knocked out of his lungs.

Opening his eyes with a yell of fury, Naruto pushed the heavy rock off with ease and spins himself up. _'This must be one of Yuuma's lackeys! If this one is after me then… the other must be…!'_

"You're not here alone, are you?" He questioned.

The blue-haired boy let out his weird, signature laugh. "Nyahahaha~ I guess you figured it out, ne?"

"Tell me, who is after Taiga?! Is it Yuuma?!" Although he knew she could handle herself, there was no way that she could face Yuuma by herself.

"Nyah." He shook his head, "Just that stupid wench they partnered me up with." He tried to think of who it could be until he remembered what happened yesterday when they arrived in the Land of Fire.

"You mean…!"

He nodded, "Kureha is sure going to give her a rough time. She likes to _taste_ people. Disgusting I say, but what works for her… works for her." Akechi shrugged his shoulders. "Nyow nyow, stop worrying about them and worry about _me_."

"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" After the seal, four clones of Naruto appeared. The real Naruto stayed back, two of them preparing Rasengan in his hand, while the other two charged forward.

Akechi grinned as he was engaged in a battle of taijutsu. The first Naruto clone had sent a fury of punches, utilizing every opening that was before him before taking out his kunai to swipe at him.

The blue-haired male's feet were quick, his steps showing fluidity as he was able to dodge and slide away from the kunai's sharp end. The second Naruto clone guard the real Naruto and the two other clones. It had to make sure that Akechi didn't disrupt the attack.

When Rasengan was ready, Naruto charged forward and once Akechi was blindsided by the other clone, it had hit him square in the stomach and he was thrown into a tree, his back hitting the bark sharply as the tree collapsed on him after he impacts.

**) o (**

Kureha spun in a circle, steadily aiming to swipe at Tagia, but the ninja-samurai quickly advances and swings her sword in a horizontal motion. Kureha pulls her attack just in time to bend backward, avoiding Taiga's blade by a thin hair. The strike was so close that a strand of black hair from her fringe was cut clean off.

Shakily, Kureha regained her balance and jumps backward. Several civilians were in the street watching the fight until finally ninjas began to swarm to the scene.

"Don't step in!" Taiga yelled at the rest of them, "She has bombs, she'll hurt everyone if you try to."

"Ah, so you remember?" Kureha was almost sad the girl did. She would've loved seeing their gawkers dead from being too nosy.

Jumping into the air, she sent a flying kick towards Taiga, who swiftly backflipped away and swung Honjo Masamune toward her once she landed cleanly on her feet. Kureha parried the attack with ease and stepped to Taiga side, making them end up back to back.

Both of them tried to strike one another behind them, but neither could get past the other's defense.

**) o (**

Naruto waited until Akechi was in sight of again, slightly panting as his chest felt sore from the attack with the rock.

It was silent for a few seconds, Naruto's eyes searching for any sight of him until finally, jumping from out of thin air, Akechi lunged toward him with broadswords in his hands. Naruto was quick enough to draw the handle of Nakigitsune right into Akechi stomach, knocking him backwards but he managed to get himself upright and slid back on his feet.

He performed the same attack earlier, slamming his fist into a ground a rock came charging towards him. Naruto shattered it with his blade, keeping up the pace when Akechi performed the technique more rapidly. Each motion of Nakigitsune chopped several of the rocks, but the force of them sent him sliding back a few inches each time.

"Is that all you got?!" The Uzumaki taunted, a grin on his face.

* * *

**A/N: **Konohamaru is sooooo annoying tbh! He's basically Boruto the first! I mean, I think its cute he admires Naruto but is it fair that he basically steals everything from Naruto? He's basically a clone. Ugh.

I was going to make this chapter longer but my computer is acting insane lately. That's why it took me so long, but I'll be getting a new laptop soon.

I'm super excited though all these reviews, faves, and 101 follows?! This is crazy! I hope I don't disappoint with this chapter, even though I wish I could've added more but I know this all my laptop will let me. I'm glad so many of you like Taiga since her personality can be annoying and sweet at times. She'll be much nicer now since I've think her attitude is really starting to go in the right direction. You know, that's how Naruto's magical personality works.

** KingKiger**: Thank you so much! Oh yes, I'm planning on that but I want to make it realistic. I want to tread carefully on how I present that to Taiga because Naruto life is one hell of a rollercoaster. That's an amazing idea! That's pretty realistic too instead of what happened in canon, and I think Naruto deserves to hold some grudges. He can't be all forgiving sometimes, but hopefully Taiga can teach him that! This new Naruto feels like a stranger to me. I can barely connect with him anymore, so I'm going to give all of you the Naruto we know in love as best as I can. Thank you so much, that idea is amazing.


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